French authorities say the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s international network is widening rapidly, with prosecutors now confirming that around 10 previously unknown suspected victims have come forward as part of a major human-trafficking probe tied to the late financier and convicted sex offender.
The development marks another expansion of the long-running effort to uncover the full scope of Epstein’s operations and the individuals who may have helped facilitate them across Europe.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed Sunday that approximately 20 women have now identified themselves to investigators since French authorities publicly encouraged potential victims to come forward earlier this year.
Some of those women were already known to investigators through earlier cases involving prominent figures in the modeling industry. But Beccuau confirmed that roughly half of them are entirely new to authorities.
“We also had new victims come forward, ones we didn’t know at all,” she said. “There are around 10 of them.”
French investigators opened the human-trafficking investigation after the U.S. Department of Justice released another batch of Epstein-related documents earlier this year.
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The inquiry focuses specifically on possible crimes committed in France or involving French citizens and associates who may have aided Epstein’s trafficking operation.
According to Beccuau, investigators are now methodically interviewing alleged victims, many of whom currently live outside France.
“A certain number of them are abroad,” she explained, adding that authorities are arranging interviews based on when victims are able to travel to Paris.
French prosecutors are also diving back into evidence connected to Epstein himself.
Authorities are reportedly reviewing Epstein’s computers, phone records, and address books yet again while cross-referencing names and details mentioned by alleged victims. Beccuau said French investigators are also preparing international legal-assistance requests as part of the growing inquiry.
The case revives longstanding questions about Epstein’s connections to powerful figures inside the fashion and modeling world, particularly in Europe.
French investigators had already searched Epstein’s luxury Paris apartment back in 2019 shortly after he was found dead inside a New York jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Several names linked to prior French investigations have resurfaced during the current probe.
Among them is former modeling executive Gerald Marie, who has faced multiple allegations involving sexual abuse and trafficking connected to the modeling industry. Fifteen women publicly urged French authorities earlier this year to investigate possible links between Marie and Epstein.
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A previous investigation into allegations against Marie was closed in 2023 because the accusations dated back too far to prosecute under French law.
Another central figure was Jean-Luc Brunel, the late French modeling agent long accused of procuring young girls for Epstein. Brunel was arrested in 2020 and later found dead in a French prison cell in 2022 while awaiting trial.
Two former models have also alleged that modeling scout Daniel Siad groomed them for eventual delivery to Epstein and Marie in separate incidents spanning the 1990s and 2000s.
Despite the mounting allegations and renewed investigative push, prosecutors acknowledged that no potentially implicated individuals have yet been formally questioned in the latest probe.
That could change as investigators continue analyzing records and gathering testimony.
Epstein himself pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution and served just 13 months in jail under a widely criticized plea deal before later facing renewed federal charges in 2019.
His death in prison officially ruled a suicide, remains the subject of enormous public scrutiny and speculation years later.
