TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A French politician, renowned as a cultural icon of the 1980s and 1990s. A Norwegian diplomat who played a role in the secret talks that led to the Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestine in the 1990s. A well-connected former Slovak minister who once served as president of the United Nations General Assembly. Three prominent officials, implicated by their ties to Jeffrey Epstein—and they weren't the only ones. All of them were brought down by the Jeffrey Epstein dossier. And all of them were in Europe, not the United States.
Like the revelation of the owners of offshore bank accounts in the Panama Papers scandal, the Epstein case has exposed privileged political and social circles from Scandinavia to South Asia.
The massive trove of Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice has shaken Europe's political, economic, and social elite—dominating headlines, ending careers, and triggering political and criminal investigations.
Epstein, a businessman and convicted sex offender, gathered friends and associates in an astonishing array of places.
Now, some of them are being brought down by unflattering details of their relationship—some of which date back to Epstein's 2008 conviction—revealed in nearly three million pages of documents released by the US Department of Justice.
Revelations in France
The French Foreign Minister has called for an investigation 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 Wednesday, as reported by Le Monde.
In a post on X on Tuesday night, he said he would refer the allegations against Fabrice Aidan to prosecutors and launch an internal investigation. The ministry described Aidan as "a top foreign affairs secretary who was on leave for personal reasons and held a position in the private sector."
His mention in the released files from the investigation into the disgraced New York financier, who committed suicide in prison for his involvement in the sex trafficking of underage girls, does not imply guilt.
However, French media, after discovering his name in the dossier, reported that he had shared email correspondence with Epstein from 2010 to 2017.
Investigative website Mediapart reported late Tuesday that the FBI had flagged Aidan as having accessed child sexual abuse websites while he worked at the New York-based United Nations from 2006 to 2013, leading to an internal investigation and his resignation.
At the time, Aidan was an advisor to Norway's Terj Rod-Larsen, who Norwegian police said Monday was under investigation for his ties to Epstein. Mediapart also reported that Aidan had sent UN documents and reports to Epstein. After working at UN headquarters in New York, Aidan then went on to work at the UN cultural agency, UNESCO.
The energy group Engie, where he most recently worked, said it had fired him. "In light of the information brought to our attention and reported in certain media, which would concern a period prior to his joining the group, Engie has decided to relieve Fabrice Aidan from his duties," it said.
The fallout from the latest Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice has led former minister Jack Lang to resign from his post as head of a prominent cultural body called the Arab World Institute.
In his prolific career, Lang was known for creating popular cultural events and iconic architectural structures. Now 86 and retired from politics, he remains a respected figure in France through the Arab World Institute, which he has led since 2013 and which promotes Arab culture and values.
Lang's name appears more than 600 times in the documents, with emails documenting lunches, dinners, and business deals, dating back to 2012, when Lang said he and Epstein were introduced by a mutual friend, filmmaker Woody Allen. The American filmmaker is suspected of being involved in a pedophile case and of marrying his own stepdaughter.
However, Lang denied any wrongdoing, saying he was "shocked" his name appeared on the articles of association of the offshore company Epstein founded in 2016.
His daughter, Caroline, who allegedly owned half of the company, has resigned from two positions. According to Mediapart, Epstein also left Caroline, a film producer, $5 million in his will.
France's National Financial Prosecutor's Office said it had opened a preliminary investigation into Lang and her daughter for alleged "money laundering from tax fraud."
"It is clear that (Epstein) had a very extensive system," French President Emmanuel Macron said this week, referring to Epstein's extensive network of contacts. "I see that behind all this, many conspiracy theories are being fueled."
Impact on the UK
British figures implicated by their ties to Epstein include former Prince Andrew—who paid millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit with one of Epstein's victims and faces pressure to testify in the US—and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, whose foundation was shut down this week.
And, even before the latest batch of millions of dollars in files was released on Friday two weeks ago, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, was stripped of his honorary titles, princely titles, and taxpayer-funded mansions.
Aside from former Prince Andrew, none of them have faced sexual misconduct charges. They were ousted for maintaining good relations with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.
“Epstein collected powerful people the way others collect frequent flyer points,” said Mark Stephens, a specialist in international law and human rights at Howard Kennedy in London, as reported by KSL Radio this week.
“But the receipts are now in public, and some might wish they’d traveled less.”
The documents were made public after the public furor over Epstein became a crisis for President Donald Trump’s administration and led to a rare bipartisan effort to force the government to release its investigative files. But in the US, this long-awaited publication has not brought the same public accountability to Epstein’s associates—at least until now.
Rob Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said that in the UK, “if you’re in those files, it’s immediately a big story.”
“It suggests to me we have a more functional media, we have a more functional accountability structure, that there is still a degree of shame in politics, in terms of people will say: ‘This is just not acceptable, this is just not done,’” he said.
Former British Ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, has been fired and could face jail, as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership crisis over Mandelson's appointment.
Like others now implicated, veteran Labour politician Mandelson downplayed his relationship with Epstein, despite calling him "my best friend" in 2003.
New files reveal continued contact for years after Epstein's 2008 prison sentence for sexual offences involving minors. In a July 2009 message, Mandelson appeared to refer to Epstein's release from prison as "liberation day."
Starmer fired Mandelson in September over earlier revelations about his relationship with Epstein. British police are now investigating whether Mandelson committed misconduct in public office by passing sensitive government information to Epstein.
Starmer has apologized to Epstein's victims and promised to release public documents that would show Mandelson lied when he was being vetted for the ambassadorship.
That may not be enough to stop angry MPs from trying to oust the prime minister for his failure of judgment.
Alex Thomas, executive director of the Institute for Government think tank, said “there is something about parliamentary democracy,” with its need for a prime minister to maintain the confidence of Parliament in order to remain in office, “that I think does help drive accountability.”
US Repercussions
Several prominent Americans have faced repercussions for their friendship with Epstein. Most prominently, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers took a leave of absence from his academic position at Harvard University late last year.
Brad Karp resigned last week as chairman of the prominent US law firm, Paul Weiss, following the latest disclosures, and the National Football League (NFL) said it would investigate Epstein's relationship with New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, who exchanged sometimes abusive emails with Epstein about potential trysts with adult women.
Other Epstein associates in the US have not faced serious sanctions, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who exchanged hundreds of text messages with Epstein, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who accepted an invitation to visit Epstein's private island, and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who discussed a visit to the island in emails but said he never made the trip.
Former President Bill Clinton has been forced by Republicans to testify before Congress about his friendship with Epstein. Trump has also faced repeated questions about his relationship with Epstein. Neither he nor Clinton has ever been accused of wrongdoing by Epstein's victims.
Investigations in Other European Countries
The Epstein files revealed a global network of royals, political leaders, billionaires, bankers, and academics that the wealthy businessman built around him.
Across Europe, officials have resigned or faced reprimands after the Epstein files revealed ties that were more extensive than previously disclosed.
Joanna Rubinstein, a Swedish UN official, resigned after revelations of a 2012 visit to Epstein's Caribbean island.
Miroslav Lajcak, national security adviser to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, resigned after emails between him and Epstein were revealed, including their conversations about "beautiful" girls.
Prime Minister Fico described the uproar over Lajcak's resignation as an attack on him, saying his advisor's resignation would deprive the country of "an extraordinary source of experience in diplomacy."
Lajcak told the Slovak News Agency, "sexual services had never been offered to me, I never took part in any, I did not witness any." While he also “condemned the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein”, he added that “there would have been no communication if I knew the full scale of his deeds at the time”.
Commentators in Slovakia said the denial was hard to believe, given the harsh tone of the conversations in the emails between him and Epstein (in one email, Lajcak told him that when it came to young women, "sharing is caring").
Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have launched extensive official investigations into the documents. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a team would scrutinize the files for potential Polish victims and any links between Epstein and Russian intelligence services.
Epstein took an interest in European politics, having exchanged emails with billionaire Peter Thiel—owner of the technology company Palantir, which contributed to Israel's genocide in Gaza. Epstein called Britain's 2016 decision to leave the European Union "just the beginning" and part of the return of "tribalism."
Grégoire Roos, director of the Europe program at the Chatham House think tank, said the files reveal Epstein's "far-reaching" network of contacts in Europe, "and the level of access among not just those who were already in power, but those who were getting there."
"It will be interesting to see whether in the correspondence he had an influence in policymaking," Roos said.
Norway Revelations
Few countries have been as shaken by the Epstein revelations as Norway, a Scandinavian nation with a population of just under 6 million.
The country's economic crimes unit has opened a corruption investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland—who also chaired the committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize—for his ties to Epstein. His lawyer said Jagland would cooperate with the investigation.
Also implicated are prominent Norwegian diplomatic couple Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul, architects of the Oslo Accords—the Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts of the 1990s.
Juul has been suspended as Norway's ambassador to Jordan after it emerged that Epstein left a $10 million inheritance to the couple's children in a will drawn up shortly before his death by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that Juul had "shown a serious failure of judgment." His lawyer said in a statement that he "does not recognize the accusations made against her."
Borge Brende, the former foreign minister who now heads the World Economic Forum (WEF), has also come under scrutiny for his ties to Epstein. The Norwegian Parliament on Tuesday established an independent commission to investigate the relationship.
Kare R. Aas, who served as Norway's ambassador to Israel, Afghanistan, and the United States, said the revelations have left diplomats feeling "sadness and anxiety." He said he expects Juul and her husband to face justice.
"No mercy in Norway on corruption, and Norwegians in higher positions such as politicians and ambassadors are no exception," Aas said.
Norwegian respect for the royal family has also been eroded by new details about Epstein's friendship with Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who is married to the heir to the throne, Prince Haakon.
The files include joking conversations and emails planning visits to Epstein properties, teeth-whitening appointments, and shopping trips, including a request for advice on wallpaper depicting two naked girls for Mette-Marit's son, Marius Borg Høiby, who was 15 at the time.
The princess apologized "to all of you whom I have disappointed."
This revelation comes as her son, Høiby, is on trial in Oslo on charges of raping several women and faces up to 16 years in prison.
Involvement in Asia
Following social media reports that Epstein met with the Dalai Lama, a statement issued on Sunday on behalf of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said he had never met Epstein or authorized anyone to meet him.
The Dalai Lama himself has been embroiled in controversy, most notably when in 2023 he attempted to suck the tongue of a boy he was holding. Although he later claimed the action was a joke, the now 80-year-old's actions were condemned internationally.
India's Ministry of External Affairs has denied Epstein's email, in which he appeared to claim a successful courteous approach to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his historic state visit to Israel in 2017. Epstein's claims, the statement said, were "nothing more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal, which deserve to be rejected with the utmost contempt."
However, the opposition Congress Party seized on the reference, alleging that Modi was susceptible to manipulation by foreign "monsters." A senior party official, K.C. Venugopal, urged the prime minister on social media to "personally explain these disturbing revelations."
Israeli Connection
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the revelation of emails between Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak, the former prime minister and a vocal critic of Netanyahu.
“Jeffrey Epstein’s unusual close relationship with Ehud Barak doesn’t suggest Epstein worked for Israel. It proves the opposite,” Netanyahu wrote on social media on February 6. “Stuck on his election loss from over two decades ago," he wrote, "Barak has for years obsessively attempted to undermine Israeli democracy by working with the anti-Zionist radical left in failed attempts to overthrow the elected Israeli government.”
Speaking in December, Barak confirmed that he attended lunches and dinners at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, but said he did not witness or participate in any sexual abuse. “I now deeply regret having any association with him,” he said.
Contrary testimony was provided by Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most high-profile victims. She alleged in her memoir that a “well-known prime minister” brutally beat and raped her. The assault was so “brutal” that it prompted her to flee Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, the teenager claimed.
In her posthumous memoir, Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, Giuffre only refers to her abuser as "the Prime Minister," saying she feared he would "try to hurt her" if she mentioned his name. In previous court filings, she accused former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of raping her, an allegation Barak has repeatedly denied.
According to the memoir, Giuffre met "the Prime Minister" on Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2002, when she was 18. She was ordered to accompany him to a cabana, where the situation quickly escalated into violence.
"He repeatedly choked me until I lost consciousness and took pleasure in seeing me fear for my life," Giuffre wrote. Horrifically, the Prime Minister laughed when he hurt me and got more aroused when I begged him to stop. I emerged from the cabana bleeding from my mouth, vagina and anus."
Giuffre said the politician "raped me more savagely than anyone had before."
She begged Epstein not to send her back. "I got down on my knees and pleaded with him," she recalled. "I don’t know if Epstein feared the man or if he owed him a favor, but he wouldn’t make any promises, saying coldly of the politician’s brutality, 'You'll get that sometimes.'"
Despite her pleas, Epstein later sent her back to the same man aboard his private jet, the Lolita Express. The second encounter was less violent, but Giuffre said she lived in fear that he would assault her again.
"I didn't know it then, but my second interaction with the Prime Minister was the beginning of the end for me," she wrote. Afterward, she stopped recruiting girls for Epstein, something Epstein had previously forced on her.
"After the attack, I couldn’t stay a fool. Having been treated so brutally and then seeing Epstein’s callous reaction to how terrorized I felt, I had to accept that Epstein meted out praise merely as a manipulation to keep me subservient," she wrote. Epstein cared only about Epstein."
Read: Who Are the 6 'Wealthy, Powerful Men' Redacted in Epstein Files?
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