A French professional model recruiter who arranged meetings between late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and several models for more than a decade was found dead at his home near Paris on Monday.
Daniel Siad’s body was found at his home in Colombes, a suburb of the French capital, Marie-Céline Louriche, deputy prosecutor at the Nanterre Judicial Court, told CNN in a statement on Wednesday.
An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.
CNN’s Katie Polglase recently interviewed Siad, who said he had no reason to believe that the two women he recommended to Epstein – and who told CNN that Epstein abused them – were harmed by him.
Even after Epstein’s conviction for sex crimes in 2008, modeling industry insiders like Siad continued to seek business ventures with him, inviting him to fashion events and allowing him to collaborate with their companies.
Siad said Epstein assured him that he had paid for his crimes and that “this kind of thing would never happen to anyone,” as Siad told him.
“I trusted him and thought the guy was a professional,” he told CNN. “I never heard anything from anyone I introduced to him who told me they had a bad situation. I thought this guy was a professional person.”
Siad said he believed Epstein was a casting director for Victoria’s Secret and the MC2 modeling agency. CNN found no evidence to support this claim.
Files released by the Justice Department show Epstein paid Siad tens of thousands of dollars.
In one message, Siad wrote: “Nice French girl from Marrakech… She said she would (would) be glad to meet you.”
Siad separately said that Epstein asked him to help find an assistant.
In a 2018 email, Siad wrote that he was looking for a “handsome young assistant” for Epstein.
In another message, Siad sent Epstein a photograph of a woman, describing her as “very polite” and someone who had “potential” as a “model” or “assistant.”
“Too old,” Epstein replied.
According to Justice Department files, Siad repeatedly sent Epstein photographs of young women he met during his travels, some of them in provocative poses.
Siad’s name appears more than 2,000 times in the Justice Department’s Epstein files, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported.
Epstein’s ties to the modeling industry are part of ongoing investigations, including a criminal probe launched this year in Paris that is looking into information related to Siad, the city’s top prosecutor said.
Siad was also charged with abuse. The model also accused him of rape while she was working in France in 1990. Siad denied the accusations.
CNN’s Katie Polglase, Barbara Arvanitidis, Elina Baudier Kim, Kurt Devine and Isabelle Chapman contributed reporting.