France seeks probe after diplomat cited in Epstein files

The French flag flies halfmast Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

France’s foreign minister has requested a probe after the name of a French diplomat on leave appeared in numerous emails to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I was appalled,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.

In an X post late on Tuesday, he said he was referring allegations against Fabrice Aidan to the public prosecutor, and launching an internal inquiry.

The ministry described Aidan as a “principal foreign affairs secretary on leave for personal reasons and holding positions in the private sector”.

A mere mention in released files from the investigation into the disgraced New York financier, who killed himself in prison 2019 while charged with sex trafficking underage girls, does not imply wrongdoing.

But French media, after unearthing his name in the files, reported he had shared email correspondence with Epstein from 2010 to 2017.

Investigative website Mediapart late Tuesday reported that the FBI had flagged Aidan as having consulted child sexual abuse websites while he was working at the New York-based United Nations from 2006 and 2013, leading to an internal probe and his resignation.

Aidan was during that time adviser to Norway’s Terje Rod-Larsen, an adviser to the UN secretary general. Norwegian police said on Monday they were investigating Rod-Larsen over his ties to Epstein.

Mediapart also reported that Aidan sent UN documents and reports to Epstein.

AFP was not immediately able to contact Aidan for comment, who appeared on Wednesday morning to have deleted his LinkedIn professional networking profile.

After the UN headquarters in New York, Aidan then went on to work for the UN cultural agency UNESCO.

Energy group Engie, for whom he had been working more recently, told AFP it had let him go.

“In light of the information brought to our attention and reported in certain media, which would concern a period prior to his joining the group, Engie has decided to relieve Fabrice Aidan from his duties,” it said.

The fallout of the latest Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice has led to former minister Jack Lang resigning from his position as the head of a top cultural body called the Arab World Institute.

He has however denied any wrongdoing, saying he was “shocked” that his name appeared in the statutes of an offshore company that Epstein founded in 2016.

His daughter Caroline, who allegedly owned half the shares in the company, has resigned from two positions.