French modelling scout with links to Epstein found dead

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.

Under investigation in France, Daniel Siad, 69, was one of several French men accused of aiding the convicted sex offender to traffic and abuse women.

Siad had not yet been questioned by investigators, but had denied the allegations, saying he wanted to be heard and give his version of events.

"An investigation to determine the cause of death was opened on Monday evening following the discovery", the prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said.

An autopsy will be carried out as part of the probe.

French investigators had been investigating Siad over allegations including rape and human trafficking.

Siad's lawyer Menya Arab-Tigrine said her client had requested to give his side of the story before he died.

"He is dead and he was innocent," she told AFP.

"If 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.

Siad's name appeared in more than 1,000 documents released as part of the declassified Epstein files.

He likened his efforts to recruit women to fishing.

"In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish," Siad wrote in English in an email to Epstein in 2014.

Siad had insisted that the American had "taken advantage of his trust".

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.

Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

For victims, Siad represented a possible avenue to finally "shed light on what happened" in relation to Epstein, said Juliette G., a former French model who says Siad recruited her in 2004 to introduce her to Epstein.

"Another link in the chain has disappeared that could have helped uncover the truth and identify those responsible," said the woman, who has asked to withhold her surname to protect her privacy.

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.

"It's very frustrating," Karlsson told AFP. "He was very close to be arrested. We worked so hard for this, trying to have justice."

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.

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.

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's death.

"It feels like victims are being denied justice," added Brinkworth, who has accused Marie of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s.

"The failure of the Paris public prosecutor's office to act in the knowledge that Siad was a close associate of Epstein and facing multiple rape and trafficking allegations is beyond comprehension," she said.

"I urge the public prosecutor to now urgently investigate all individuals connected to Epstein and who are facing similar allegations."