Daniel Siad 'Epstein Trafficker' Cause of Death: Model Scout Found Dead Amid Rape Probe and 2,000 File Mentions

Daniel Siad, a modelling recruiter whose name appears nearly 2,000 times in the declassified Epstein files, has been found dead at his Paris home. French prosecutors have ordered an autopsy; his lawyer says he died of a heart attack.

Siad, 69, was discovered dead at his house in Colombes on Monday, three months after French prosecutors opened a criminal investigation that had yet to charge him. At least five women had accused him of rape and human trafficking, allegations he denied.

Autopsy Ordered as French Prosecutors Investigate

Marie-Céline Lawrysz, deputy public prosecutor at the Nanterre Judicial Court, confirmed in a Wednesday statement to CNN that Siad's body was found at his home in Colombes, a Paris suburb, and that an autopsy would be carried out to determine the cause of death.

Siad's lawyer, Meyna Arab-Tigrine, told AFP that her client had died of a heart attack, and pushed back against the framing of his death as suspicious. 'If he died of a heart attack, the unbearable waiting, the pressure and the anxiety he suffered every day will have had something to do with it,' she said.

She separately told Reuters, in an emailed statement, that Siad had never formally been placed under judicial investigation.

That distinction matters under French law. Suspects in France are placed under formal investigation only after a preliminary probe finds reasonable grounds to believe a crime occurred — a threshold prosecutors had not yet reached in Siad's case.

Nearly 2,000 Mentions in the Epstein Files

Siad's connection to Epstein ran far deeper than a passing acquaintance. He arranged for Epstein to meet multiple models over more than a decade, and continued seeking business ventures with him, inviting him to fashion events, even after Epstein's 2008 conviction on sex crimes.

Documents released by the US Department of Justice show the financial and personal texture of that relationship. The files show Epstein paid tens of thousands of dollars to Siad. In one message, Siad wrote to him: 'Cute French girl in Marrakesh... She said that she will (be) happy to meet you.'

In a 2018 email, Siad told Epstein he was looking for a 'good looking young assistant' for him, and in another exchange sent a photo of a woman he described as having 'potential' as a 'model' or 'assistant.'

Siad described his recruitment work in strikingly casual terms. In a 2014 message to Epstein, he compared it to fishing, writing: 'In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish.' His name appears more than 2,000 times across the DOJ's released Epstein files.

24 Women Come Forward — But Prosecutors Say Evidence Wasn't Enough

Multiple women have accused Siad directly, and prosecutors' broader inquiry into Epstein's French network remains active. The Paris Public Prosecutor's office said in February it had launched wide-ranging investigations into allegations of human trafficking and criminal conspiracy tied to Epstein, and confirmed those investigations would continue despite Siad's death.

So far, 24 women have come forward or been identified through a review of information and a call for victims, with at least 16 already interviewed by investigators and further interviews still planned.

Despite the scale of the allegations, prosecutors acknowledged they had not gathered enough to move against him. The office said Siad had been the subject of special investigative techniques, including telephone intercepts, though these 'have not produced evidence justifying his immediate arrest.'

Siad maintained his innocence publicly and pressed to give his account. He had not yet been formally questioned by investigators in France but denied the allegations against him, saying he wanted to be heard and give his version of events.

That claim sits alongside 2,000 mentions in the Epstein files, including a message in which Siad told Epstein he was looking for a 'good looking young assistant' and another in which he sent a photo of a woman he described as having 'potential' as a 'model' or 'assistant.'

He also maintained that Epstein had deceived him, insisting he had no reason to know the financier 'was dangerous.' In an interview with CNN's Katie Polglase, Siad said he had no reason to believe two women he had recommended to Epstein, who told CNN Epstein had abused them, had actually been harmed by him.

A Second Epstein-Linked Death in France

Siad is not the first man in France's modelling industry with Epstein ties to die suddenly while under scrutiny. French authorities arrested modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel in 2020 after allegations he procured women for Epstein, and Brunel was found dead in prison in 2022. Brunel had been held for 14 months awaiting trial on charges of raping minors and sexual harassment, and denied the charges along with any participation in Epstein's trafficking network.

There is no evidence linking the two deaths beyond their shared connection to Epstein.

Epstein himself died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, a death also ruled a suicide by officials.

With Siad's death, prosecutors must now rely on the documentary evidence — including 2,000 references in the Epstein files — to test the allegations against him in court, if any charges were to be brought posthumously. French law does not formally preclude posthumous investigation.