French justice opens Epstein-linked probe against former culture minister

PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office said on Saturday it had opened an investigation into former Culture Minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline Lang on suspicion of ‘aggravated tax fraud laundering’, a move linked to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Pressure is rising on Lang to resign as president of the Arab World Institute in Paris since files released last week by the U.S. Department of Justice show Epstein and Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and the financier’s 2019 death by suicide in jail.

French media, including Le Monde, Le Figaro and Mediapart, reported that the preliminary investigation was opened after U.S. Justice Department documents revealed years of correspondence and financial links between Lang and Epstein, including offshore.

The office confirmed the investigation but did not provide further details.

Jack Lang, who denies wrongdoing, has been summoned by the foreign affairs ministry, the supervisory authority of the Arab World Institute, a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world.

“Jack Lang was a minister of state, he will make his decision in good conscience,” his lawyer Laurent Merlet told BFM TV, reacting to calls for Lang to leave the institution.

Lang’s name appears more than 600 times in the Epstein files, according to a Reuters review of the documents. On Monday, Lang’s daughter Caroline resigned as head of France’s Independent Production Union after her own links to Epstein surfaced.

“Jack Lang finds the presentation of the facts very unfair, but he is a fighter and will provide both his supervisory authority and the courts with all the necessary explanations to prove that he is not involved in any malpractice or criminal offence that could be attributed to him,” his lawyer said.

“There has been no movement of funds … But I think it is normal for the justice to want to verify this,” he also said, adding he hoped the prosecutor would act fast.

The file dump has heightened scrutiny of Epstein’s global connections with public figures, including Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles, and Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States.

(Reporting by Camille Raynaud, Tangi Salaun and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Louise Heavens)