French Ministers Call for Their Own Jeffrey Epstein Investigation

(Bloomberg) -- Paris prosecutors are considering opening a formal probe into deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein after two French ministers said that the U.S. sex-trafficking case indicated links to France.

Investigators are analyzing evidence to determine whether a probe should be opened, an official in the prosecutor’s office said Monday. The comments came hours after Marlene Schiappa, minister for women’s affairs, said that Epstein’s death over the weekend meant that a French investigation was more important than ever.

“The death of Mr. Epstein must not deprive his victims of justice,” Schiappa said in a joint statement with Adrien Taquet, junior minister for the protection of children. “It seems fundamental for the victims that an investigation be opened in France so that all light can be shed.”

The 66-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday morning in what authorities termed an apparent suicide. Epstein, who had homes in New York, Florida, the Caribbean and Paris, was accused last month of trafficking underage girls from 2002 to 2005.

Epstein owned an apartment near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and was arrested in early July at an airport near New York upon returning from France.

Schiappa and Taquet said that an independent French investigation was necessary because Epstein’s death means his trial expected next year on charges of molesting teenage girls and sex trafficking will never take place.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net;Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Anthony Aarons

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