Daniel Siad, the French-Swedish model recruiter for Jeffrey Epstein: Accused of rape and human trafficking

Women who claim they were raped or trafficked by Daniel Siad, the French-Swedish model recruiter and associate of financier Jeffrey Epstein, have accused French authorities over the way they handled the investigation.

Siad, 69, was found dead last month in his apartment in Colombes, near Paris. At the time, he faced multiple allegations of rape and human trafficking.

Ebba Karlsson, a former Swedish model and one of the women who reported him, said she had filed a complaint against Siad for rape and human trafficking, but police never questioned him.

“For months, they kept telling us he would be arrested, but that never happened. Now we will no longer get answers about what happened to us,” Karlsson said.

She says she met Siad in Stockholm in 1990. According to her account, he introduced himself as a modeling agent and promised her a photo shoot in Monaco.

Karlsson claims the offer was fabricated. Instead of taking her to Monaco for work, Siad took her to a villa near Cannes, where, she says, he raped her. He then transported her to Paris, from where she managed to escape.

The former model explained that she did not report him for years because she knew him only under the false identity “Daniel Goldberg.” She discovered his real name only after the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

In those documents, Daniel Siad’s name appears in more than 2,000 files linked to Epstein. According to the materials, he found young women in various European countries and sent their details to Epstein, including photographs and personal information, by email.

In return, Epstein transferred money to Siad’s bank account and paid for his travel expenses in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Other women have said that Siad lured them to New York by promising contracts in the modeling industry. A French model said that after arriving in the United States, she was taken to Jeffrey Epstein’s apartment. There, she said, he took her passport and asked her to undress, claiming he was assessing her body for modeling agencies. She managed to leave after getting her documents back.

Another woman said that Siad introduced her to Epstein in Paris in 2013. According to her testimony, she endured sexual abuse for six years and also traveled with him to Epstein’s private island.

Lawyers representing the women are preparing a civil lawsuit against the French state. They claim that authorities failed to act despite numerous complaints and evidence.

According to the lawyers, the fact that Siad was not questioned harmed the investigation and prevented the collection of important information about how the trafficking network operated.

French prosecutors have stated that investigations into Jeffrey Epstein’s French network will continue, even though the criminal proceedings against Daniel Siad were closed after his death.

The women accusing Siad say justice has not been served. “Several women accused him of rape, but he was never questioned. We feel betrayed,” Karlsson said.