Former French minister Jack Lang resigns from the Arab World Institute following the revelation of correspondence with Epstein

Jack Lang, former French Minister of Culture, resigned as president of the Arab World Institute, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this Saturday, following revelations about his previous contacts with Jeffrey Epstein and the start of a financial investigation. Earlier, the French Financial Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation against Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline on suspicion of "money laundering through aggravated tax fraud". Calls for Lang to resign intensified since files released on January 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice showed that Epstein and Lang maintained intermittent correspondence between 2012 and 2019, the year the financier died by suicide in prison.

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French media, including Le Monde, Le Figaro, and Mediapart, reported that the preliminary investigation was opened after US documents revealed years of correspondence and financial links between Lang and Epstein. The prosecution confirmed the investigation, but did not provide further details. Jack Lang was summoned to appear on Sunday before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the body that oversees the Arab World Institute, a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world.

Lang denied having acted wrongly during the investigation

Lang said earlier on X that he received the investigation "with serenity and even relief". "The accusations against me are unfounded, and I will prove it, beyond the noise and fury of the media and digital courts," he added. The name Lang appears more than 600 times in Epstein's files, according to a Reuters review. On Monday, Caroline Lang, a media executive with a long career, resigned as president of the Independent Production Union of France after her own links to Epstein came to light. Jack Lang's lawyer told BFM TV that he will "demonstrate that he is not involved in any malpractice or crime."

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"There has been no movement of funds... But I think it's normal for the justice system to want to verify it," said Laurent Merlet. The file filtering has intensified scrutiny of Epstein's global connections with public figures, including the British Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (the younger brother of King Charles), Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States, and the Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit.