By Juliette Jabkhiro
PARIS, July 22 (Reuters) – Daniel Siad, a modelling scout with ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been found dead at his home outside Paris, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Siad’s body was discovered on Monday evening. An autopsy will be carried out to determine the cause of death, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office said.
Siad’s name appeared nearly 2,000 times in the Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since a wide-ranging probe into human trafficking and tax fraud was opened in February following the Epstein files release, 24 women have come forward as victims or witnesses of alleged acts committed by Siad or others, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
As part of the probe, Siad was subjected to special investigative measures, including phone taps, but to date the surveillance had not yielded enough evidence to justify his immediate arrest, the statement added.
The Paris prosecutor also said the investigation would continue despite Siad’s passing, and that about 10 investigators were working on the case.
According to French media, at least five women accused Siad, 69, of rape and human trafficking, allegations Siad denied.
His lawyer, Menya Arab-Tigrine, told Reuters in a voice message that investigators had found no evidence during the probe that amounted to “serious or corroborating indications” justifying his arrest, meaning prosecutors and police had not concluded he had committed a criminal offence.
In France, suspects are placed under formal investigation only after a preliminary probe, which means that investigative magistrates consider there are reasonable grounds to believe a crime has been committed.
Siad told French broadcaster BFM in May that his relationship with Epstein was strictly professional.
In one email to Epstein released in the files, Siad wrote in poor English: “I am here in Barcelona I have girls staying with me from Australia Croecian origin, so you can speak with her very Sweet.” He then adds. “I am looking to place her here and Paris.”
Epstein replies: “photo?”
Siad’s lawyer said he had asked on several occasions to be heard by French judicial authorities, but that no action was taken.
“Daniel Siad never stopped proclaiming his innocence,” Arab-Tigrine told Reuters in an emailed statement earlier on Wednesday. Siad had died of a heart attack, she added.
Siad is the second man publicly linked to Epstein who has died in France.
French authorities arrested modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel in 2020 after allegations he procured women for Epstein.
Brunel was found hanged in his prison cell in 2022, having spent 14 months in custody awaiting trial on charges of rape of minors and sexual harassment. He denied the charges, along with any participation in Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Juliette Jabkhiro, Makini Brice and Inti Landauro; Editing by Makini Brice, Richard Lough, Jon Boyle and Daniel Wallis)
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