France’s Epstein Probe Draws New Suspected Victims

French prosecutors say about 10 new suspected victims have come forward as authorities expand their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s network in Europe.

Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau told RTL on Sunday that around 20 suspected victims have contacted investigators since February, when she publicly urged people with information to speak up. Some were already known to authorities, but others had not previously been identified.

“new victims come forward, ones we didn’t know at all”.

“There are around 10 of them,” she added, noting, “The choice we’ve made for the time being is to listen to these victims.”

The investigation is focused on possible offences committed in France or involving French figures who may have facilitated Epstein’s crimes. French authorities opened a human trafficking probe after the US Justice Department released files connected to the late financier’s case.

Beccuau said investigators are now working around the practical difficulty of speaking with people in different countries.

“A certain number of them are abroad, so the investigators have tried to set up meetings to suit when they are able to come to Paris,” the prosecutor said.

The French inquiry is also returning to Epstein’s own records. Beccuau said investigators have reviewed digital and personal materials again as part of the probe.

“We have also once again pulled out Mr Epstein’s computers, his telephone records, his address books,” she said, adding that her team would be “making requests for international assistance”.

Epstein died in a US prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex. A month later, French investigators searched his luxury apartment in Paris.

The French investigation also overlaps with earlier probes into figures in the European modelling world. Suspected victims already known to authorities included women who had spoken during investigations involving former model agency boss Gerald Marie and the late model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

In March, 15 women urged French authorities to investigate Marie for possible links to Epstein.

Brunel was arrested in France in 2020 after allegations that he sexually abused minors and procured victims for Epstein. He was found dead in prison in 2022.

Two former models have also told AFP that a modelling scout named Daniel Siad groomed them, in one case in the 2000s with the aim of delivering them to Epstein, and in another case in the 1990s involving Marie.