PARIS(National Times)- A French investigation into alleged human trafficking that allowed US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to commit abuses is following several leads on potential recruiters, a prosecutor said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau spoke after French modelling scout Daniel Siad, who is accused of helping Epstein to traffic women, was found dead in his home in July before he could be questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have obtained other names of potential recruiters,\u201d she told France Inter radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor us, the Epstein network is a labyrinthine network. To get out of it, it\u2019s not just a single Ariadne\u2019s thread you have to pull on, it\u2019s dozens and dozens of threads,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutor says 13 of 26 victims have never previously appeared in any legal case<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case has so far led them to New York and \u201ctowards Saint-Tropez, towards Cannes\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France opened a human trafficking investigation after the US Justice Department in January released the latest cache of files from the investigation into the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while facing charges of trafficking underage girls for sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beccuau said 26 victims had been identified, including eight who still needed to be questioned as some lived abroad. \u201cOf these 26 victims, 13 had not previously appeared in any case,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modelling industry probe<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French authorities have previously looked into other French figures in the modelling industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magistrates previously dropped an investigation into sexual assault and rape claims against Gerald Marie, the former European head of the Elite modelling agency now in his mid-70s, as the alleged abuse was beyond the statute of limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several women have urged new investigations targeting him since the release of the latest Epstein files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marie last month denied any wrongdoing, saying in an interview with the RTL broadcaster:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have never raped anyone.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve always behaved consistently and properly with women. I love women. I can\u2019t see myself forcing one,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he only met Epstein once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French police in 2020 also arrested modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel after allegations he procured women for the US billionaire. He was found dead in prison in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS(National Times)- A French investigation into alleged human trafficking that allowed US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to commit abuses is following several leads on potential recruiters, a prosecutor said on Thursday. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau spoke after French modelling scout Daniel Siad, who is accused of helping Epstein to traffic women, was found dead in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n