Investigators were also examining the Epstein documents and planned to look for any names cited by accusers, Laure Beccuau stated.
Approximately 10 “new” potential victims have come forward during a French inquiry into the network of the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a prosecutor on Sunday.
France initiated an investigation into human trafficking following the release of a new batch of documents by the US Department of Justice in January. These files pertain to the case of a disgraced financier, who passed away in prison in 2019 while being charged with trafficking minor girls for sexual purposes.
French judges are attempting to examine potential violations that occurred in France or involved French individuals who aided his criminal activities.
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Top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned that approximately 20 potential victims came forward after she encouraged those affected to come forward in February.
Some had already been identified by investigators, she said to the RTL broadcaster.
“But we also received statements from new victims, people we had no prior knowledge of. There are approximately 10 of them,” she added.
“The decision we have taken for now is to hear these victims,” she stated.
Some of them are overseas, so the investigators have attempted to arrange meetings at times when they can travel to Paris.
Authorities were also examining the so-called Epstein documents and planned to review them for any names cited by accusers, she mentioned.
Once again, we have retrieved Mr Epstein’s computers, his phone records, and his address books,” she stated, noting that her team would be “seeking international support.
In September 2019, French authorities examined Epstein’s upscale Paris residence following his discovery deceased in his New York jail cell the prior month.
Potential victims already recognized by authorities included women who had given statements during inquiries into former European modeling agency head Gerald Marie and deceased model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Fifteen women in March called on France to examine Marie for potential connections to Epstein.
In 2023, investigators concluded another inquiry into claims that Marie committed sexual abuse during the 1980s and 1990s, as the time elapsed made prosecution impossible.
French officials detained Brunel in 2020 following claims that he sexually assaulted minors and facilitated victims for a US billionaire. He was discovered deceased in prison in 2022.
Two ex-models have shared with Agence France-Presse that a modeling agent called Daniel Siad seduced them with the intention of handing them over to Epstein in one instance during the 2000s, and Marie in another case from the 1990s.
In the most recent human trafficking probe, “no individuals who might be involved have been interviewed yet,” Beccuau stated.
In 2008, Epstein admitted guilt for facilitating the prostitution of a minor under 18 and spent 13 months in jail before being placed on probation.
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