A French professional model recruiter who arranged for late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to meet multiple models over a decade was found dead in his home near Paris on Monday.
Daniel Siard’s body was found in his home on the outskirts of the French capital, Colombes, Marie-Céline Loris, deputy public prosecutor at the Nanterre Court of Justice, told CNN in a statement on Wednesday.
An autopsy will be conducted on the body to determine the cause of death.
CNN’s Katie Polgrase recently interviewed Mr. Shead and said there is no reason to believe that two women who recommended him to Mr. Epstein – who told CNN they were abused by Mr. Epstein – were harmed by Mr. Epstein.
Even after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, modeling industry insiders like Shead continued to pursue business ventures with him, inviting him to fashion events and allowing him to socialize with their companies.
Mr. Sead said Mr. Epstein paid the price for his crimes and that Mr. Epstein assured him that “something like this would never happen to anyone,” which Mr. Sead referred to him.
“I trusted him and believed this man was a professional human being,” he told CNN. “I never heard from anyone I referred to him who came back that they were in a bad situation. I believed this person was a professional.”
Mr. Sead said he believed Mr. Epstein to be a casting director for Victoria’s Secret and modeling agency MC2. CNN found no evidence to support that claim.
Files released by the Justice Department show that Epstein paid Shead tens of thousands of dollars.
“A cute French girl in Marrakech… said she was happy to meet you,” Siad wrote in one message.
Separately, Mr. Siad said Mr. Epstein asked him to help him find an assistant.
Mr. Siad wrote in a 2018 email that he was looking for a “good-looking young assistant” for Mr. Epstein.
In another message, Mr. Siad sent Mr. Epstein a photo of the woman, describing her as “very polite” and someone who had “potential” as a “model” or “assistant.”
Mr. Epstein replied, “I’m too old.”
According to Justice Department files, Shead repeatedly sent Epstein photos of young women he met during his travels, some of them in provocative poses.
Shead’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 investigation launched in Paris this year that is scrutinizing information related to Shead, the city’s chief prosecutor said.
Siad also faced accusations of abuse. A model also accused him of raping her while they were working in France in 1990, a charge she denied.
CNN’s Katie Polglase, Barbara Arvanitidis, Elina Baudier Kim, Curt Devine and Isabelle Chapman contributed reporting.
