{"id":55496,"date":"2026-07-23T04:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/55496\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T04:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:34:09","slug":"jeffrey-epsteins-paris-recruiter-found-dead-before-he-could-be-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/55496\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s Paris recruiter found dead before he could be questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PARIS, July 23 \u2014 A French modelling scout with close ties to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home outside Paris, prosecutors and his lawyer said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Under investigation in France, Daniel Siad, 69, was one of several French men accused of aiding the US financier to traffic and abuse women.<\/p>\n

Siad had not yet been questioned by investigators, but had denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn investigation to determine the cause of death was opened on Monday evening following the discovery\u201d, the prosecutor\u2019s office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said.<\/p>\n

An autopsy will be carried out as part of the probe.<\/p>\n

French investigators had been investigating Siad \u2013 who said he also held Swedish citizenship \u2013 over allegations including rape and human trafficking.<\/p>\n

Siad\u2019s lawyer Menya Arab-Tigrine said her client had requested to give his side of the story before he died.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is dead and he was innocent,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he died of a heart attack, the unbearable waiting, the pressure and the anxiety he suffered every day will have had something to do with it, she said.<\/p>\n

The Paris prosecutor\u2019s office said it was dropping a probe targeting Siad after his death, but pursuing a wider probe into alleged human trafficking linked to Epstein, who had a flat in the French capital.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A digital billboard, paid for by The Lincoln Project Advocacy, reads \u2018eyes on Epstein\u2019, in reference to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Times Square in New York City on April 30, 2026. \u2014 AFP pic <\/p>\n

\u2018Very frustrating\u2019<\/p>\n

Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.<\/p>\n

French authorities in 2020 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

Siad\u2019s name appeared in more than 1,000 documents released as part of the declassified Epstein files.<\/p>\n

He likened his efforts to recruit women to fishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish,\u201d Siad wrote in English in an email to Epstein in 2014.<\/p>\n

Siad had insisted that the American had \u201ctaken advantage of his trust\u201d.<\/p>\n

For victims, Siad represented a possible avenue to finally \u201cshed light on what happened\u201d in relation to Epstein, said Juliette G., a former French model who says Siad recruited her in 2004 to introduce her to Epstein in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother link in the chain has disappeared that could have helped uncover the truth and identify those responsible,\u201d said the woman, who has asked to withhold her surname to protect her privacy.<\/p>\n

Former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson, now in her fifties, filed the first complaint against Siad in February, accusing him of raping her when she was 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating,\u201d Karlsson told AFP. \u201cHe was very close to be arrested. We worked so hard for this, trying to have justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

This photo illustration shows redacted documents from the Epstein Library files released by the US Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on February 18, 2026. \u2014 AFP pic <\/p>\n

\u2018Urgently investigate\u2019<\/p>\n

Karlsson has also accused Siad of introducing her to Gerald Marie, the former European head of the Elite modelling agency, whom she has also accused of rape.<\/p>\n

Several women have accused Marie of rape and human trafficking and urged France to investigate him for possible links to Epstein. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Ex-BBC journalist Lisa Brinkworth, who co-founded a collective to support victims of model industry abuse, said she was shocked by the news of Siad\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like victims are being denied justice,\u201d added Brinkworth, who has accused Marie of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure of the Paris public prosecutor\u2019s office to act in the knowledge that Siad was a close associate of Epstein and facing multiple rape and trafficking allegations is beyond comprehension,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge the public prosecutor to now urgently investigate all individuals connected to Epstein and who are facing similar allegations.\u201d \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS, July 23 \u2014 A French modelling scout with close ties to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[35167,11940,447,35278,35277,35276,30],"class_list":["post-55496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-paris","tag-daniel-siad","tag-gerald-marie","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-juliette-g","tag-menya-arab-tigrine","tag-nanterre","tag-paris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}