A modelling scout linked to Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home in Colombes, a north-west suburb of Paris. Daniel Siad, 69, was discovered on Monday, and the Nanterre prosecutor's office confirmed the death to the BBC.
The office said:
"An investigation to determine the cause of death was opened on Monday evening following the discovery,"and added that an autopsy will be carried out.
Siad's name appeared thousands of times in the Epstein files released by the US government. He had previously denied any knowledge of the threat that Epstein posed.
Epstein victim Anya - not her real name - previously told the BBC Siad had introduced her to Epstein. She said:
"It was a complete set-up,"describing Siad as
"essentially a professional trafficker".
During one e-mail to Epstein released in the files, Siad wrote in badly-spelled English:
"In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish".
Ahead of a BBC investigation on the subject published on 18 July, Siad's lawyer had said he was not available for comment.
In a recent CNN interview, Siad said he did not know the women were being abused by Epstein:
"I trusted him, I believed this guy is a professional person."
Siad himself was the subject of several complaints in France, including allegations of rape, with the first filed in February. He denied wrongdoing in multiple recent media interviews, telling BFMTV in May:
"I have never raped anyone in my life."
A former model who had given a deposition to police in June as part of the investigation into Siad told the BBC his death meant information he may have had about Epstein was now lost.
"An important link in the chain has just vanished into thin air, without there even having been a chance to recover the information Daniel Siad might have possessed—given that he was never questioned,"she said.
"Too much time has been lost... and it is yet another way for the leads to go cold. I hope we won't have to wait another seven years to see his home searched, even though I think it is already too late."
Anne-Claire Le Jeune, part of a group of lawyers from NGO Innocence en Danger which pushed for the start of an investigation into Epstein in Paris in 2019, said victims had been deprived of justice.
"My clients found the strength to break a particularly heavy silence, given Daniel Siad's ties to Jeffrey Epstein,"she said.
"They faced every stage of the proceedings with remarkable courage."
"It is deeply regrettable that the slow pace of the investigation resulted in his death before he could be questioned or taken into police custody, thereby depriving the victims of a crucial step in their pursuit of truth and justice."
