France opens financial probe into ex-minister Jack Lang after Epstein revelations

France's financial crimes prosecutors told AFP Friday they had opened a preliminary investigation into influential former culture and education minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline after revelations in the Epstein files.

The pair will be investigated for "laundering of aggravated tax-fraud proceeds" over their suspected financial ties with late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the office said.

Lang, a prominent figure who has held a series of ministerial roles in previous governments, is facing pressure to resign from his current post as head of a leading French cultural institute over his links to Epstein.

France's foreign minister said Friday he had summoned the 86-year-old ex-minister to a weekend meeting.

Lang is the most high-profile French figure caught up in the latest US release of documents linked to the financier, who US authorities say killed himself in 2019 while in prison facing charges of sex trafficking underage girls.

A mere mention in the files does not imply wrongdoing.

French media reports said Lang, who heads the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris, repeatedly appealed to Epstein for funds or favours, while his daughter's name appears in the company files of an offshore company co-owned with the disgraced US tycoon.

Caroline Lang, a film producer, resigned on Monday as head of the Independent Production Union.

'Extremely serious'

French investigative website Mediapart on Monday reported that Epstein in 2016 founded a company based in the US Virgin Islands, half of whose shares were owned by Caroline.

But it said no files it reviewed suggested either father or daughter had been implicated in Epstein's sexual crimes. 

Caroline Lang told Mediapart that the US financier told her he wanted to "invest in young French and international artists".

She said his lawyers set up the company called Prytanée LLC, but that she did not invest any money in it. An email in the Epstein files suggests she instead contributed her knowledge of the art world, Mediapart reported.

She told the investigative website she had been "incredibly naive".

Jack Lang, who spent nearly 20 years as culture minister and education minister in different governments, has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes, despite the financier's conviction in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

On Wednesday, Lang refused to step down as president of the IMA, a cultural hub focused on the Arabic-speaking world.

Pressure has increased however and the foreign ministry – which provides half of the institute's budget – has ordered him to a meeting.

"He has been summoned by the ministry and will be received on Sunday," Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told AFP on a visit to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Speaking later from Beirut, Barrot added: "The first elements emerging from these files are new and extremely serious" and would require in-depth examination.

But his priority, he said, was to ensure the proper running of the institute.

The IMA receives 12.3 million euros ($14.5 million) from the foreign ministry every year.

Calls to resign

The financial crimes investigation will now increase the pressure on Lang.

Lang did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, but his lawyer Laurent Merlet said Sunday's meeting with Barrot was merely one with his supervisory authority.

"The purpose is to understand his side of the story," he said, rejecting the notion that the Epstein files proved any "close bonds of friendship".

A source in Lang's circle said he was in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Friday.

Politicians – even within Lang's Socialist ranks – have said he should step down.

Socialist party leader Olivier Faure urged Lang to "think about resigning to protect the institution he presides".

A source in the president's office said Lang should be "thinking about the institution" he has headed since 2013.

The IMA's board of directors – made up in equal measure of ambassadors from Arab countries and figures chosen by the foreign ministry – appointed him and has renewed his tenure three times.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)