French diplomat with Epstein ties denies accusations after government alerts prosecutor

PARIS – A French diplomat suspected of transferring United Nations documents to late financier Jeffrey Epstein denies all allegations made against him, his lawyer said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said this week he had alerted prosecutors and initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr Fabrice Aidan, describing the accusations as “extremely serious”.

Mr Aidan, a mid-level career diplomat who joined France’s Foreign Ministry in 2000,

is mentioned in more than 200 documents

released by the US Department of Justice concerning convicted sex offender Epstein.

Mr Aidan, who worked at the UN from July 2006 to April 2013 while on secondment from the French government, “rejects all of the accusations”, his lawyer Jade Dousselin said in a statement sent to Reuters on Feb 12.

Her client was ready to answer any questions from the French judiciary, she added.

E-mails reviewed by Reuters that Mr Aidan sent from his personal and official UN account show the transfer of UN Security Council briefings and other confidential documents to Epstein between 2010 and 2016.

French investigative website Mediapart also reported on Feb 11 that the FBI had flagged Mr Aidan in 2013 for allegedly viewing child sexual abuse websites.

Mr Aidan resigned from his UN post the same year, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters.

Mr Dujarric said that a disciplinary process had been launched against Mr Aidan based on information shared by a member state.

Mr Aidan’s lawyer said the allegations were false.

“He never visited any websites containing child pornography,” she said.

“The FBI has already investigated this without any prosecution, and French investigations reached the same conclusion,” she said.

Mr Gerard Araud, who served as France’s Ambassador to the United States from 2014 to 2019, said on X that he had sent Mr Aidan back to France and that US authorities had not sought to prosecute Mr Aidan. REUTERS