Former French Tradition Minister Jack Lang mentioned on X that he welcomed the investigation “with serenity and even reduction”. File
| Photograph Credit score: AFP
The French Monetary Prosecutor’s Workplace mentioned on Saturday (February 7, 2026) it had opened an investigation into former Tradition Minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline on suspicion of ‘aggravated tax fraud laundering’, a transfer that follows the launch of recordsdata linked to late convicted U.S. intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Strain is rising on Mr. Lang to resign as president of the Arab World Institute in Paris since recordsdata launched on January 30 by the U.S. Division of Justice confirmed Epstein and Mr. Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and 2019, when the financier died by suicide in jail.
French media, together with Le Monde, Le Figaro and Mediapart, mentioned the preliminary investigation had been opened after the U.S. paperwork revealed years of correspondence and monetary hyperlinks between Mr. Lang and Epstein.
The workplace confirmed the investigation however didn’t present additional particulars.
Jack Lang has been summoned to report on Sunday (February 8, 2026) to the Overseas Ministry, which supervises the Arab World Institute, a cultural and analysis establishment that promotes understanding of the Arab world.
Mr. Lang mentioned on X that he welcomed the investigation “with serenity and even reduction”.
“It can permit all the sunshine to be shed on accusations attacking my integrity and my honour,” he added.
“The accusations levelled towards me are baseless, and I’ll display this, past the sound and fury of the media and digital courts.”
Mr. Lang’s title seems greater than 600 instances within the Epstein recordsdata, in keeping with a Reuters assessment of them. On Monday (February 2, 2026), Caroline Lang, a long-time media government, resigned as head of France’s Impartial Manufacturing Union after her personal hyperlinks to Epstein surfaced.
Jack Lang’s lawyer informed BFM TV that he would “show that he’s not concerned in any malpractice or prison offence”.
“There was no motion of funds… However I feel it is regular for the justice to wish to confirm this,” Laurent Merlet mentioned.
The file dump has heightened scrutiny of Epstein’s world connections with public figures, together with Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — the youthful brother of King Charles — Peter Mandelson, the previous U.Ok. ambassador to the US and Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
Revealed – February 08, 2026 05:23 am IST