France announces special team for Epstein files

PARIS

The Paris prosecutor's office has announced it is setting up a special team of magistrates to analyze evidence that could implicate French nationals in the crimes of the convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

With Epstein's known circle now extending to prominent French figures after the release of documents by the U.S. authorities, the prosecutor's office said it would also thoroughly re-examine the case of a former French modelling agency executive, Jean-Luc Brunel, a close associate of the American financier who died in custody in 2022.

The new team will work closely with prosecutors from the national financial crimes unit and police with a view to opening investigations into any suspected crimes involving French nationals, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP.

The aim is "to be able to extract any piece that could be usefully reused in a new investigative framework," it said.

Brunel was found dead in his cell in a Paris prison in 2022 after having been charged with raping minors. The case against him was dropped in 2023 in the wake of his death, with no other person charged.

Prosecutors said an investigation had shown Brunel was "a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein" who had offered modelling jobs to young girls from poor backgrounds.

Brunel had engaged in sexual acts with underage girls in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Paris and the south of France, they said.

Several French public figures feature in the latest U.S. Department of Justice release of material from the Epstein files, though being mentioned there does not in itself mean any offense has been committed.

The prosecutor's office said it had been asked to look into three new specific cases involving a French diplomat, a modelling agent and a musician.