By Owen Evans
French police conducted a search of the Arab World Institute in Paris on Monday after the U.S. government’s release of the Epstein files triggered a financial crime investigation into the Institute’s former head, ex-culture minister Jack Lang, according to France’s national financial prosecutor.
A spokesman for the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office told The Epoch Times via email that search operations were underway at several locations, including the Arab World Institute in Paris, as part of a preliminary investigation opened on Feb. 6.
“These actions form part of a preliminary investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office on Feb. 6, 2026, into allegations of aggravated tax fraud laundering involving Jack Lang and daughter Caroline Lang,” he said.
He said that the investigation was opened following the recent publication by the U.S. Department of Justice of nearly 3 million documents and archives relating to judicial proceedings and investigations concerning deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, “as well as the journalistic revelations that followed in France.”
Lang, a senior figure in France’s Socialist Party, resigned earlier this month from his post as president of the institute, a position he had held since 2013.
In a Feb. 7 post on X, Lang wrote that he welcomed the National Financial Prosecutor’s investigation “with serenity and even relief.”
“It will allow all the light to be shed on accusations concerning attacks on my integrity and my honor. As a law professor, I have the greatest respect for the courts, to which I will bring my full contribution,” he said.
“The accusations leveled against me are baseless, and I will demonstrate this, beyond the sound and fury of the media and digital courts.”
Lang’s lawyer, Laurent Merlet, defended him on French news channel BFM TV last week and said Lang and his wife, Monique, were placed under police protection due to threats on social media.
The former minister served as culture minister for more than a decade under late Socialist President François Mitterrand, becoming one of the longest-serving culture ministers in the Fifth Republic.
During that period, Lang was widely credited with expanding state support for the arts and launching initiatives such as the annual “Fête de la Musique,” which remains a staple of French cultural life.
The Arab World Institute, opened in 1987, is a prominent cultural and research institution dedicated to fostering dialogue between France and the Arab world. It hosts exhibitions, conferences, and educational programs, and is partly funded by the French state alongside contributions from Arab countries.
The investigation has drawn additional attention following the resurfacing of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with Epstein.
Files made public by U.S. authorities include email correspondence intermittently between 2012 and 2019 between Lang and Epstein, though the nature and context of those exchanges remain unclear.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. Epstein was 66 when he died in 2019 in a federal prison in New York City. He was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. A medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.
Epstein’s global connections with public figures, including former UK ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson and Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, are facing renewed scrutiny.
Joanna Rubinstein, chair of Sweden for UNHCR, the fundraising arm of the U.N. Refugee Agency, stepped down in February after the files showed that she had a family visit to Epstein’s private island in 2012.
Sweden for UNHCR is an independent fundraising foundation with the mission to raise funds from the private sector in Sweden for the U.N. Refugee Agency.
The Epoch Times has contacted Jack Lang’s lawyer and the Arab World Institute for comment.
Zachary Stieber and Reuters contributed to this report.
