Daniel Siad’s death stalls French Epstein investigation

For nearly a decade, reporter Virginie Vilar tracked Siad’s alleged role in recruiting young women for Epstein. The pursuit culminated in a criminal complaint filed on February 10, 2026, by former Swedish model Ebba P. Karlsson, who identified Siad as her assailant after his name surfaced in declassified US investigative files. The French prosecutor’s office had only recently initiated proceedings based on her testimony.

Siad consistently denied involvement in human trafficking or sexual violence, claiming through his lawyer, Ménya Arab-Tigrine, that he was merely a pawn who had been manipulated by Epstein. However, internal communications between Epstein and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel portray a different dynamic, suggesting Siad was an active, albeit volatile, participant in their circle. With his death on July 20, the judicial path has been severed. Arab-Tigrine maintains that her client was innocent and had been denied his day in court, while investigators have ordered an autopsy to confirm the circumstances of his passing.