French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said today that he was "astonished and outraged" by the discovery that French diplomat Fabrice Aidan was mentioned several times in files on the late American convicted pimp and financier Jeffrey Epstein, and that he had launched an administrative investigation and disciplinary proceedings.
The French minister told RTL Radio that he only learned about it on Tuesday, that the facts in the Epstein files were "extremely serious" and that he did not rule out the possibility that other French diplomats may have been involved.
Fabrice Edan is a senior foreign affairs secretary and is on leave for personal reasons, Barrot said. He added that the diplomat worked for energy company Engie and was immediately suspended after the media revealed that he appeared in the Epstein documents.
French media reported that, according to the Epstein dossier, Edan exchanged dozens of emails over several years with businessman and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
As reported by the Mediapart and Radio France portals, which first reported the news of Edan's involvement in the affair, the French diplomat provided Epstein with "diplomatic information, intelligence and access to his international networks."
The first recorded exchanges date back to 2010, when Edan was posted to the United Nations as an advisor to Norwegian diplomat Terje Red-Larsen. Red-Larsen and his wife Mona Jul are under investigation in Norway for "complicity in corruption and bribery" over their ties to Epstein.
Mediapar stated about Edan that the UN was warned in 2013 that there was a possibility that he was also connected to websites with child pornography.
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