The chief prosecutor in Paris has opened a preliminary inquiry to determine whether late US financier Jeffrey Epstein committed any sex crimes on French territory or against any underage French victims, prosecutor Remy Heitz’s office said in a statement on Friday, reports Reuters.
Epstein was arrested on July 6th in New Jersey after his private jet landed on a flight from Paris, where he had a residence on Avenue Foch, one of the French capital’s most exclusive addresses in the 16th district near the Arc de Triomphe.
He pleaded not guilty to US charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14.
Lawyers who represented Epstein in his US criminal case could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to comment on the French investigation.
Epstein died on August 10th in his jail cell in Manhattan at the age of 66. An autopsy report concluded he had hanged himself.
Epstein’s death at the federal jail triggered multiple investigations. It prompted US Attorney General William Barr to criticize “serious irregularities” at the facility, and to remove the acting chief of the federal Bureau of Prisons.