France launched an investigation on Friday into accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose luxurious Paris apartment was one of his homes around the globe.
Remy Heitz, the chief prosecutor for Paris, said his decision to look into allegations of rape swirling around the dead jet-setting financier stemmed from information provided to his office and followed discussions with investigators from the U.S., according to a report from the Associated Press.
The French inquiry centers around victims who are minors aged 15 and older, but further details were not immediately available.
Epstein’s will, signed two days before what has been ruled a suicide by hanging at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, said he was worth $577.7 million and listed homes and properties in New York City, Palm Beach, Florida, New Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Paris. The French-based dummy company “SCI JEP” held the title to Epstein’s Paris apartment building units, worth more than $8.6 million.
Epstein had been held in jail since he was arrested by federal authorities at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on his way home from Paris in early July. Epstein was alleged to have sexually exploited and abused dozens of girls at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, among other locations, between 2002 and 2005 and perhaps beyond. Prosecutors claimed Epstein “enticed and recruited” girls to “engage in sex acts with him” and built a “vast network of underage victims.”
Attorney General William Barr and other investigators in the U.S. have vowed investigations related to Epstein and any possible co-conspirators will continue.
