An apartment building owned by Jeffrey Epstein in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, August 12, 2019. /VCG Photo

An apartment building owned by Jeffrey Epstein in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, August 12, 2019. /VCG Photo

French police on Wednesday called for witnesses and potential victims of late U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein to come forward as prosecutors investigate whether he committed any sex crimes in France.

French prosecutors opened an inquiry last month after U.S. investigators uncovered claims of abuse in France.

Epstein was found hanged in his New York jail cell on August 10 while awaiting trial. He had pleaded not guilty to U.S. charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14.

In a Twitter post Wednesday, the French police asked other "victims or witnesses" to contact them by telephone or email.

Prosecutors meanwhile said that three women had already been heard by French investigators since August 27.

The most recent was a former Dutch model who says she was drugged and raped by Jean-Luc Brunel, an ex-modelling scout with ties to Epstein, at a Paris apartment in the early 1990s, according to a letter seen by AFP news agency.