Juliette Jabkhiro
Paris: Daniel Siad, a modelling scout with ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been found dead at his home outside Paris, prosecutors said on Wednesday (French time).
Siad’s body was discovered on Monday evening. An autopsy will be carried out to determine the cause of death, the prosecutor’s office in Nanterre said.
Siad’s name appeared nearly 2000 times in the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice. Since a wide-ranging probe into human trafficking and tax fraud was opened in February following the files’ release, 24 women have come forward as victims or witnesses of alleged acts committed by Siad or others, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
As part of the probe into his activities, Siad was subjected to special investigative measures – including phone taps – but to date, the surveillance had not yielded enough evidence to justify his immediate arrest, the statement added. The Paris prosecutor said the investigation would continue despite Siad’s death, and about 10 investigators were working on the case.
Siad is the second man publicly linked to Epstein who has died in France. French authorities arrested modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel in 2020 after allegations he procured women for Epstein.
According to French media, at least five women accused Siad, 69, of rape and human trafficking, allegations which Siad denied.
His lawyer, Menya Arab-Tigrine, told Reuters that investigators had found no evidence during the probe that amounted to “serious or corroborating indications” justifying his arrest, meaning prosecutors and police had not concluded he had committed a criminal offence.
According to the London Telegraph, former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson was the first woman to file a complaint in France, alleging that Siad raped her in 1990 when she was 20.
Model lured from Sweden
Siad scouted her on the streets of Stockholm and lured her to Cannes with the promise of a successful modelling career, but then raped her in a pool cabin, she claimed.
“It was horrible, it was dirty, damp, dark, there was only one mattress with dirty sheets,” Karlsson told French news channel BFM earlier this year. “He wanted to get closer, and I said, ‘I have a boyfriend in Sweden, keep your distance’. But he continued again and again. And he raped me. He raped me in that pool cabin.”
Siad denied the allegations and claimed he did not know Karlsson.
“I have never raped anyone in my life. I have never dated a model in my life. I am the father of a family,” he told BFM.
He also insisted Epstein had “taken advantage of his trust”.
But Valdson Vieira Cotrin, who worked as Epstein’s butler in Paris, told the Telegraph last year that Siad was “as important as Ghislaine Maxwell” in recruiting women for Epstein.
Siad was also in contact with Jean-Luc Brunel, who founded a modelling agency with financing from Epstein, and was also accused of raping minors, grooming girls for the financier and sex trafficking – charges he denied.
Brunel was found hanged in his prison cell in 2022, having spent 14 months in custody awaiting trial. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
“I’m in shock,” Karlsson told the Telegraph after learning of Siad’s death. “Daniel Siad was very close to being arrested. We worked so hard to get justice, and now … It’s extremely frustrating.”
In France, suspects are placed under formal investigation only after a preliminary probe, which means that investigative magistrates consider there are reasonable grounds to believe a crime has been committed.
Siad told BFM in May that his relationship with Epstein was strictly professional.
In one email to Epstein released in the files, Siad wrote in poor English: “I am here in Barcelona I have girls staying with me from Australia Croecian [sic] origin, so you can speak with her very Sweet.” He then adds. “I am looking to place her here and Paris.” Epstein replies: “photo?”
Siad’s lawyer said he had asked on several occasions to be heard by French judicial authorities, but that no action was taken. “Daniel Siad never stopped proclaiming his innocence,” lawyer Arab-Tigrine told Reuters in an emailed statement. Siad died of a heart attack, she added.
Reuters
National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)
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