France: Daniel Siad, alleged recruiter of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, found dead at his home near Paris

Daniel Siad, a model recruiter and alleged pimp for American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead Monday evening at his home near Paris, the Nanterre prosecutor's office said Wednesday, confirming a report in the French newspaper Le Parisien.

"An investigation into the causes of death was opened Monday evening following the discovery" of his body in his "house" in Colombes (west of Paris), the prosecutor's office said, and "an autopsy will be carried out".

Targeted by several complaints, including rape allegations, Daniel Siad was the subject of an investigation in Paris entrusted to the office specializing in combating human trafficking. He denied these accusations and stated that he wanted to be interviewed by investigators to give his version of events.

When contacted by AFP, her lawyer Menya Arab-Tigrine did not immediately respond.

The first complaint against him was filed on February 10th by a former Swedish model, Ebba P. Karlsson.

The woman in her fifties did not know his identity until she recognized him in the declassified archives related to Jeffrey Epstein - where Daniel Siad is cited in more than a thousand documents.

In her complaint, she accused Daniel Siad of raping her when she was 20 years old and then sexually exploiting her by introducing her to Gérald Marie, former director of the prestigious Elite modeling agency, whom she accuses of another rape. Daniel Siad and Gérald Marie have always denied the allegations.

Ebba P. Karlsson could not be reached Wednesday morning. She co-founded, with Lisa Brinkworth - who accuses Gérald Marie of sexual assault in 1998 - the collective "Victorious Angels - WE RISE", which has been denouncing sexual violence in the modeling world and in the Epstein galaxy for several years.

"I am shocked and so sad for all the victims," Lisa Brinkworth told AFP.

"It is devastating that the survivors of the Brunel case were first denied justice, and now those of the Siad case," she added.

In 2022, modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein, committed suicide in custody after being indicted for the rape of minors and sexual harassment. In 2019, Jeffrey Epstein, arrested in the United States for the sexual exploitation of minors and racketeering, was found hanged in his cell.