Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on February 6, 2026, in Beirut, Lebanon. HUSSEIN MALLA/AP
France's foreign minister has requested a probe after the name of a French diplomat on leave appeared in numerous emails to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. "I was appalled," Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Wednesday, February 11. In a post on X late on Tuesday, he said he was referring allegations against Fabrice Aidan to the prosecutor, and launching an internal inquiry. The ministry described Aidan as a "principal foreign affairs secretary on leave for personal reasons and holding positions in the private sector."
A mere mention in released files from the investigation into the disgraced New York financier, who killed himself in prison in ed with sex-trafficking underage girls, does not imply wrongdoing. But French media, after unearthing his name in the files, reported he had shared email correspondence with Epstein from 2010 to 2017.
Investigative website Mediapart late on Tuesday reported that the FBI had flagged Aidan as having consulted child sexual abuse websites while he was working at the New York-based United Nations from 2006 and 2013, leading to an internal probe and his resignation.
