On this 2019 file picture, a person walks his canine subsequent to an condominium constructing owned by Jeffrey Epstein in Paris.
| Photograph Credit score: AP
Paris prosecutors opened on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) two new investigations into potential intercourse abuse crimes and monetary wrongdoings linked to Jeffrey Epstein following the discharge of tens of millions of information of the millionaire financier and convicted intercourse offender, and referred to as on potential victims to come back ahead.
Paris prosecutor Laurence Beccuau mentioned the investigations are in search of to make use of the information launched by the U.S. administration, media experiences and new complaints which might be being filed.
“All that information … some will make clear others to have the ability to get a well-informed, very broad, panoramic view,” Ms. Beccuau mentioned on France Data information broadcaster.
One investigation will concentrate on intercourse abuse crimes, the opposite on monetary wrongdoing, every involving specialised magistrates, she added.
The transfer comes after the discharge by the U.S. Justice Division of greater than three million pages of paperwork, in addition to 1000’s of movies and images associated to Epstein, who died behind bars in 2019.
“These publications will inevitably reactivate the trauma of sure victims,” she mentioned. “We’re satisfied that some [victims] will not be essentially recognized to us, and that maybe these publications will make them come ahead.”
She referred to as on victims who could have by no means spoken up earlier than to file formal complaints or make witness accounts to feed French and international investigations.
Ms. Beccuau additionally mentioned some materials from previous investigations is to be revisited within the gentle of latest revelations.
She was referring to the investigation right into a French modeling agent, Jean-Luc Brunel, accused of rape and intercourse trafficking of minors.
The probe was closed in 2022 after he was discovered useless in his jail cell in Paris. Brunel, a frequent companion of Epstein, was thought of central to the French investigation into alleged sexual exploitation of ladies and women by Epstein and his circle.
Epstein traveled usually to France and had flats in Paris.
In France, the highest-profile determine impacted by the latest launch of the Epstein information in France is former Tradition Minister Jack Lang, 86, who stepped down earlier this month as head of the Arab World Institute in Paris over suspicions of tax fraud.
The monetary prosecutors’ workplace opened an investigation into Lang and his daughter Caroline Lang’s alleged hyperlinks to Jeffrey Epstein by means of an offshore firm primarily based within the U.S. Virgin Islands within the Caribbean Sea.
Printed – February 18, 2026 04:57 pm IST