An inquiry is underway into the death of the modeling scout Daniel Siad, whose body was found in his home in Colombes, France, on Monday.
Siad was an acquaintance of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly introduced Epstein to models and other women. In recent months, advocates for the Model Alliance and Victorious Angeles, two organizations that support survivors of sexual abuse in the modeling industry, have called for investigations into the links between Siad and other individuals to Epstein on alleged trafficking.
An inquiry into the cause of Siad’s death was opened Monday evening, after his body was discovered “in a house he occupied” in Colombes, according to Marie-Céline Lawrysz, deputy public prosecutor of the Nanterre Judicial Court. The Territorial Security unit, “ST 92,” has been assigned to the investigation and an autopsy will be performed. Lawrysz said it is not known how long the autopsy results will take.
In March of this year, The Model Alliance’s founder Sara Ziff and 25 models sent a letter to U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie requesting an investigation into “the modeling industry’s role in facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s [alleged] trafficking operation.” One of the allegations in that three-page letter was that Siad “used modeling for decades as an opportunity to find and traffic girls as young as 15” to Epstein, former modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, and former president of Elite Model Management’s Paris office Gerald Marie.
On July 15, Rep. Massey introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, which would allow state attorneys general and alleged victims of Epstein and his co-conspirators to sue the U.S. Attorney General to require compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed by Congress in November of last year. Media requests to Massey’s office were unreturned Wednesday. A spokesperson for Rep. Khanna acknowledged a request for comment.
Ziff could not be reached to comment Wednesday.
In a recent interview with CNN, Siad said that he had no reason to believe that two women he had “recommended to Epstein” to meet had been harmed by him. The two women had told CNN that Epstein abused them.
Menya Arab-Tigrine, an attorney for Siad, said Wednesday that Siad “never ceased proclaiming his innocence.” Describing him as “a naturally private man,” she said he “went so far as to subject himself to the grueling media spotlight, so desperate was he to see the truth come to light.”
Arab-Tigrine said that Siad “repeatedly asked to be heard by the judicial authorities, yet his requests went unheeded.” His attorney suggested that the “daily pressure and anxiety he endured” played a role in his death of an apparent heart attack. She added, “We must await the autopsy results to confirm whether his body simply gave out. Let us not forget that he was never prosecuted, nor was he ever formally implicated in any legal proceedings. The coming days call for respect for his loved ones as they mourn. He has died, and he was innocent.”
Lisa Brinkworth, an investigative journalist and co-founder of Victorious Angels, said Wednesday that she was “heartbroken” for the alleged victims of Siad, “who have been denied justice and their day in court.” Established in 2020, the organization supports the alleged victims of Siad, Brunel, Marie and Epstein.
Brinkworth said, “The failure of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s office to act, on the knowledge that Siad was a close associate of Epstein and facing multiple rape and trafficking allegations, is beyond comprehension. I urge the public prosecutor to now urgently investigate all individuals connected to Epstein and who are facing similar allegations.”
In 2022, Brunel, a cofounder of MC2 Model Management, died of an apparent suicide in a Paris cell, where he had been awaiting trial on charges of rape of a minor and sexual harassment. The agency’s U.S. arm was started with some financial support from Epstein.
Last week, six women filed civil complaints against Marie, alleging rape and human trafficking at the Paris Judicial Court. Marie’s attorney Céline Bekerman said on Friday that Marie “firmly denies these allegations, as he has consistently done.”
In March, former model Ebba Karlsson, one of Siad’s accusers, and Brinkworth presented a letter to the Paris public prosecutor’s office that requested an inquiry into Marie in relation to Epstein. Brinkworth alleged that Marie assaulted her while she was working as a journalist on an undercover investigation about the modeling industry for a BBC documentary that was released in 1999. She was among those who filed a complaint in 2020 that was subsequently dismissed. Brinkworth had also appealed that decision unsuccessfully, and has since taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Brinkworth said Wednesday, “Today echoes the terrible day of February 19, 2022, when survivors of Jean-Luc Brunel learned of his death. They felt it insufferable that Brunel denied them the justice they badly needed, when he took his own life. Their one small comfort was that Brunel died in his prison cell awaiting trial for rape and trafficking of a minor.”
Noting how Siad had not been arrested or interviewed by police, she said, “That is scandalous. We see once again the French judicial system treating perpetrators of rape and sexual assault far too leniently. That is something that Victorious Angels is fighting to change.”
Karlsson could not be reached immediately for comment Wednesday.
In an interview in March with Brinkworth, Karlsson alleged that in the summer of 1990 she was raped in the pool house of a villa in the south of France, while traveling from Stockholm with a modeling scout, whom she said carried a fake passport. After being shown a photograph of Siad last year by a French journalist, Karlsson said she identified him. Karlsson claimed that she was later taken to meet Marie in Paris, who allegedly digitally penetrated her.
The Swedish-born Karlsson claimed that Siad later threatened her. She said that prompted her to come up with the ruse of telling Marie that she was going to sign with Elite, but that she first needed to go home to Stockholm to get her driver’s license, break up with her boyfriend and quit her job.
During that interview, Karlsson said her expectations were that Siad would be “taken to court, people will be held accountable, and the French judicial system will investigate Marie.” She said in March, “Both of them are still living their lives. So I think that would be fair, if they were investigated properly and the French judicial system supports the [alleged] victims. At this point, they haven’t for many years.”
Karlsson also spoke of how the visibility of her and other models’ advocacy might help “people who are still living in fear, victims, have the guts to come forward. To give them the opportunity to heal and be a voice for them.”
Asked about Siad’s death Wednesday, Thysia Huisman, who alleged that Brunel drugged and raped her in Paris after a party in his apartment in 1991, said “another [alleged] Epstein trafficker gone before justice could even begin.”
She said, “Like Jean-Luc Brunel, Daniel Siad takes his silence to the grave. And once again, survivors are left behind, with their truth, their trauma, and the unbearable frustration of a system that never seems to deliver justice. How many more perpetrators will die before they stand trial? Justice has failed the survivors again.”
Beatrice Keul, a former “Miss Switzerland” contestant, who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump as a beauty pageant contestant in 1993, said Wednesday, “It is very important that the public now understands with the death of this very important person [Siad] that we have to unite in solidarity because it is a question of humanity. It’s not about me and or the 28 other women [who have alleged sexual abuse] against Trump. It’s really about our society and humanity. Therefore, unity, solidarity and humanity have never been more important than today.”
Trump has denied all allegations.
Claiming that she has been contacted by “many women and men from several different nationalities,” in relation to Trump, Epstein and the convicted child sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, Keul encouraged others to come out and contact her. “It doesn’t matter whether you speak French, English, Italian or any other language. We have to stand up altogether now in each country. The time is now. The truth must come out,” she said.
Keul added, “We victims-survivors will never give up. They cannot kill us all.”
