ParisFrance’s Epstein probe gained 10 new victims.
Prosecutors target 2 modeling agents and a recruiter as French accomplices, following Epstein’s 2019 death in US custody.
No suspects have been questioned as investigators review Epstein’s computers and address books.
Sources: France 24, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera Online, NDTV, Yahoo News
WHY FRANCE HAS JURISDICTION
French law allows prosecution of crimes committed abroad when either the victim or the perpetrator is French. This 'active and passive personality' principle is broader than US extraterritorial reach, which usually requires a specific federal nexus. It is why French prosecutors can pursue acts that occurred at Epstein's properties in New York, Paris, or the US Virgin Islands.
THE MODELING PIPELINE
Epstein's closest European associate was Jean-Luc Brunel, founder of MC2 Model Management, who was arrested in France in 2020 and found dead in his Paris jail cell in 2022 — officially a suicide. Modeling agencies were the recruitment infrastructure: young women with visa-eligible work, international travel, and chaperone-shaped power asymmetry built in.
THE AVENUE FOCH APARTMENT
Epstein owned a triplex on Avenue Foch, one of Paris's most expensive addresses, two blocks from the Arc de Triomphe. French investigators have searched it repeatedly since 2019. The property is central because under French law, acts committed on French soil fall under French jurisdiction regardless of the victims' or perpetrators' nationality.
WHY POSTHUMOUS PROSECUTION
French criminal law extinguishes the action publique against the deceased — you cannot try a dead man. But accomplices remain prosecutable independently, and victims gain civil-party status (partie civile) that lets them drive the investigation, demand documents, and claim damages even when the principal defendant is gone.
THE STATUTE-OF-LIMITATIONS WRINKLE
France extended the limitations period for sex crimes against minors to 30 years from the victim's 18th birthday — reforms passed in 2018 and 2021 specifically in response to high-profile abuse cases. This is why crimes from the 1990s and 2000s are still prosecutable; under the pre-2018 regime, many would already be time-barred.
THE TRANSATLANTIC GAP
The US case against Ghislaine Maxwell (convicted 2021, 20 years) named four victims at trial. France's parallel probe now lists dozens. The divergence reflects two systems: US federal prosecutors built a tight conspiracy case for a jury; French juges d'instruction run open-ended investigations that accumulate complainants over years.