Autopsy ordered as French investigation into alleged trafficking continues
A French model scout whose name appeared in more than 1,000 documents in the U.S. Justice Department’s Epstein files has been found dead at his home outside Paris, French officials said Wednesday.
Daniel Siad, 69, was under investigation by French prosecutors specializing in human trafficking on accusations of rape and other charges related to his work recruiting women for the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He had not yet been questioned by investigators but had denied the allegations, saying he wanted to give his version of events.
Siad was found dead at his home on Monday evening. An investigation into the cause of death has been opened and an autopsy is to be carried out, authorities said.
The former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson, who earlier this year filed criminal allegations of rape and human trafficking against Siad in Paris, expressed frustration at the news of his death.
“It’s very frustrating,” Karlsson told AFP. “He was very close to be arrested. We worked so hard for this, trying to have justice.”
MSI previously reported that Paris prosecutors opened Epstein-related probes into sex abuse and finances in February, setting up a team of magistrates to analyze evidence from the Justice Department’s file release. Siad was one of several French nationals mentioned in those files.
Siad traveled around the world — visiting villages in eastern Europe, and flying to Cuba or Sweden — seeking women to work in the modeling industry, according to the documents. Alongside searching for potential models, he looked for women whom he hoped Epstein might want to meet. He compared his work to fishing, explaining to Epstein in a 2014 email that patience was required: “In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish.”
The files revealed Siad to be one of Epstein’s most loyal correspondents, remaining in frequent contact with him until months before the financier’s 2019 death and receiving wired payments apparently in lieu of expenses incurred during travel to find women.
Siad’s regular emails supplied Epstein with details about the young women he was recruiting. “Slovakia is the place to be,” Siad wrote to Epstein in 2009, noting that he had 45 women to see there. He told Epstein that he planned to spend the summer “scouting small villages” in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. “I will make you a great surprise when you come to Paris,” he promised. He was still working for Epstein in 2016, writing: “Call me if you have time I am in Barcelona. With amazing Beauty.”
Epstein’s emails to Siad were succinct, asking: “wht about new girls?”, “Any news”, “anything worth coming to paris for?” or “Any interesting women?” The women were often referred to by nationality rather than their names. “I am in ny, is the swedish girl here?” Epstein asked Siad in June 2014. Sometimes Epstein replied to Siad’s suggested candidates with just a one-word answer: “age?”. Siad emphasized that the women he had found for Epstein appeared youthful, writing on one occasion: “26 but she look 18”.
Siad was well connected in the modeling world and also worked as a scout on commission for Jean-Luc Brunel, the leading Paris, New York and Miami agent for more than four decades. Brunel killed himself in prison in February 2022 after spending 14 months in custody awaiting trial on charges of rape of minors and sexual harassment, which he denied along with any participation in Epstein’s sex trafficking. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
In an emailed statement to the Guardian in February, Siad said he believed he had been providing women to Epstein for legitimate model casting sessions in Paris. “He had a big apartment where he used to organise all his meetings, including casting for models I recruited, for Victoria’s Secret and MC2,” he wrote. “The casting time would not last more than 10 minutes. I always left the place with the models immediately.”
Earlier this year, Karlsson accused Siad of rape, saying he had scouted her in her hometown of Stockholm, Sweden, in 1990, when she was a 20-year-old model, and later raped her in France. Siad had gone by a different name at the time, she said, and she was only able to identify him after seeing images of him in reporting of the Epstein files. Karlsson did not have any interactions with Epstein. Siad’s Paris lawyer, Ménya Arab-Tigrine, told the Guardian earlier this year that he denied the allegation.
Speaking to France TV earlier this year, Siad described himself as French-born, of Algerian origin, with Swedish citizenship. He said Epstein had abused his trust and he had not been “in a position to know that this man was dangerous.” He maintained that his dealings with the models he scouted were purely professional.
“With time, one discovers that this individual committed atrocities; fortunately, I never introduced him to any minor or non-minor who was abused. I have nothing to reproach myself for,” he said in comments broadcast on French television.
The Justice Department files suggest the FBI was tipped off about Siad’s work for Epstein in 2016. In February, French prosecutors announced they were setting up a team of magistrates to analyze evidence from the files, which mention a number of French nationals including Brunel.