Investigation to focus on potential crimes against citizens in France and abroad

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The chief Paris prosecutor has announced that he is opening an investigation into the rape of minors and a series of other charges linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case.

A statement issued on Friday by the office of Rémy Heitz said the decision to open a preliminary investigation was based on “elements transmitted” to his office and “exchanges with American authorities”.

“The investigations … will focus on potential crimes committed against French victims on national territory as well as abroad, and on suspects who are French citizens,” the statement said.

The potential charges could include rape and sexual assault against minors, including some younger than 15 years old, prosecutors said.

The office will also investigate claims Epstein and others participated in a vast child sex trafficking ring for years.

The move came after US investigators found links in France to the financier, who was found hanged in his New York jail cell this month while awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges.

Epstein was arrested when he arrived in the US from Paris, where he owned an apartment near the Arc de Triomphe.

A French advocacy group for child sexual abuse victims, Innocence en Danger, said this week it had received 10 witness statements about alleged sexual crimes committed against minors in France.

Those who said they were victims were not all French but the alleged violations “took place on French territory and probably at the hands of French people”, the group’s leader, Homayra Sellier, said.

One of Epstein’s close friends was the formerly powerful French modelling tycoon Jean-Luc Brunel, who was accused in court documents of procuring minors for Epstein. He has previously denied any wrongoing.

Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report