Jack Lang, a former French culture minister and long-time president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris, has resigned from the post after Mediapart reported new details about financial and business ties between his family and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

France’s financial-crimes prosecutorial body, the Parquet National Financier (PNF), disclosed earlier this month that it had launched an investigation into suspected aggravated money laundering linked to tax fraud by Lang and his daughter Caroline following revelations that the Lang family shared control of an offshore company in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Citing the U.S. Justice Department’s newly released records on Epstein, Mediapart reported on February 4 that Caroline set up an offshore company, Prytanee LLC, on a 50-50 basis with Epstein in 2016. Then the head of Warner Bros Television for francophone nations, Caroline held her stake through another entity, the Pierre Trust, also domiciled in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  

Prytanee, which was credited with more than €1 million via a Deutsche Bank account, was intended to invest in promising artists, with Epstein footing all of the costs, according to the report. 

In one January 2016 email quoted by Mediapart, Epstein described an arrangement in which he would put up $20 million, “Jacques” would buy art, and profits would be split 50/50, with proceeds going to Jack Lang or family members he designates. Epstein also suggested the vehicle could be called the “Lang Art fund,” and that his own name need not appear.

At other times, Epstein paid for travel-related costs for Jack, who has subsequently said that the deceased sex trafficker was never his friend and that he only knew Epstein through their mutual friend Woody Allen. 

DOJ records indicate that Epstein also signed a will two days before his death in which he bequeathed his fortune to a close circle of friends. Among the beneficiaries was Caroline Lang, who was to receive $5 million, according to Mediapart.

Read more at Mediapart