France listening to 10 ‘new’ suspected victims of Epstein: Prosecutor | Human Trafficking News
French Prosecutors Investigate New Evidence in Epstein Case
PARIS — Prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced Sunday that approximately 10 new suspected victims have emerged in the ongoing French investigation into the network of the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking to RTL broadcaster, Beccuau stated that the inquiry has now identified around 20 individuals who have come forward since her appeal for potential victims in February. Some of these newly identified victims were previously unknown to investigators, she added.
“There are around 10 of them,” Beccuau said, emphasizing the commitment of authorities to listen to their accounts. Many of the new victims are located outside France, prompting investigators to arrange meetings that accommodate their schedules in Paris.
This development follows the U.S. Justice Department’s release of files related to Epstein’s case, which have prompted French authorities to open a human trafficking investigation. French magistrates are now exploring possible offenses committed within France or involving French individuals who may have facilitated Epstein’s crimes.
“We have also once again pulled out Mr. Epstein’s computers, his telephone records, his address books,” Beccuau noted, adding that her team is prepared to seek international assistance.
Epstein died in a U.S. prison in August 2019 while facing charges of trafficking underage girls for sex. Following his death, French investigators searched his luxury apartment in Paris.
Among the previously identified suspected victims are women who had previously testified in investigations concerning Gerald Marie, a former European modeling agency boss, and Jean-Luc Brunel, a deceased modeling agent. In March, 15 women called on French authorities to investigate Marie’s alleged connections to Epstein.
French authorities arrested Brunel in 2020 amid allegations of sexual abuse of minors and procuring victims for Epstein, but he was found dead in prison in 2022.
Two former models have also shared accounts with AFP, alleging that a modeling scout named Daniel Siad groomed them to deliver them to Epstein in the 2000s and to Marie in the 1990s.
