French model recruiter with close ties to Jeffrey Epstein found dead

Under investigation in France, Daniel Siad, 69, was one of several French men accused of helping the convicted sex offender to traffic and abuse women.

A French model scout who introduced women to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has died at his home near Paris, according to French prosecutors.

Daniel Siad, 69, was found dead in the Paris suburb of Colombes on Monday, French deputy public prosecutor Marie-Celine Lawrysz said on Wednesday.

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Siad was one of several French men accused of aiding Epstein to traffic and abuse women. Multiple women say he connected them to Epstein, who then abused them.

Siad maintained that Epstein had deceived him and that he had no reason to know the sex offender “was dangerous”.

Siad was himself under investigation in France over allegations of rape and human trafficking, which he denied.

Prosecutors in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of Siad’s death and an autopsy will be carried out.

‘Feel like a fisherman’

Siad’s name appeared in nearly 2,000 documents released as part of the declassified Epstein files, which showed he regularly sent Epstein photographs of women he met while travelling.

In one email to Epstein in 2014, Siad likened his recruitment efforts to fishing.

“In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish.”

Siad had not yet been questioned by investigators in France but denied the allegations against him, saying he wanted to be heard to give his version of events.

Siad’s lawyer said he died an innocent man.

“If he died of a heart attack, the unbearable waiting, the pressure and the anxiety he suffered every day will have had something to do with it,” Menya Arab-Tigrine told the AFP agency.

Siad is not the first person in the modelling industry with Epstein connections to have died suddenly in France.

In 2022, modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel hanged himself in prison in France after being arrested over allegations he procured women for the US billionaire.

Epstein died in prison in the US in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking also by suicide, according to US authorities.

‘Another link has disappeared’

For victims, Siad represented a possible avenue to finally “shed light on what happened” in relation to Epstein, said Juliette G., a former French model who says Siad recruited her in 2004 to introduce to Epstein.

“Another link in the chain has disappeared that could have helped uncover the truth and identify those responsible,” said the woman, who asked to withhold her surname to protect her privacy.

Former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson, now in her fifties, filed the first complaint against Siad in February, accusing him of raping her when she was 20.

“It’s very frustrating,” Karlsson told AFP. “He was very close to be arrested. We worked so hard for this, trying to have justice”.