Former French Culture Minister Jacques Lange and his daughter Caroline are being investigated by the country's prosecutors for financial crimes on suspicion of money laundering after documents were published showing the family's close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, France 24 reports.
French financial crimes prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into influential former culture and education minister Jacques Lange and his daughter Caroline following the publication of new documents from the Epstein files.
According to prosecutors, the investigation concerns "laundering of proceeds from aggravated tax fraud" over Lang and his daughter's alleged financial ties to the late American financier and convicted sex offender.
Lang, who has held a number of ministerial posts in previous governments, is under pressure to resign from his current post as head of the Institute for the Arab World in Paris, following documents released last week by the US Department of Justice. They show that Epstein and Lang corresponded periodically from 2012 until the financier's death in 2019.
French media reported that Lang had repeatedly approached Epstein for funding or services, and his daughter's name appears in documents from an offshore company co-owned by the American financier.