Who is Fabrice Aidan, the French diplomat suspected of involvement in the case of American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein?
Amman Today
publish date 2026-02-12 15:35:00
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot expressed on Wednesday his “deep shock” upon learning of information that showed the existence of a relationship between a former French diplomat, Fabrice Aidan, and the American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. He also expressed his “dissatisfaction”, announcing that he had referred the file to the French judiciary, opened an administrative investigation, and launched a disciplinary procedure.
Aidan’s name is mentioned 211 times in millions of documents recently declassified by the US Department of Justice regarding the Epstein case.
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The files showed that this diplomat, who held a position in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for nearly 20 years, exchanged dozens of emails with businessman and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein between 2010 and 2017.
While Radio France explained that these messages were “direct and sometimes friendly,” noting his participation in “several email chains that included the American businessman and members of his close circle.”
Fabrice Aidan is at “the disposal of the French judiciary”
The published correspondence showed that the high-ranking official’s connection to Epstein’s sexual crimes had not been confirmed. However, the investigative websites Mediapart and Radio France, which uncovered the case, reported that Fabrice Aidan provided Epstein with “diplomatic information and allowed him to use his network of international relations.”
On the other hand, the French diplomat announced, through his lawyer, that he “challenges all of the accusations against him,” and that he “remains at the full disposal of the French judiciary to answer all questions.”
Fabrice Aidan currently holds the position of “First Secretary for Foreign Affairs”, but he is on leave for personal reasons, and undertakes tasks in the private sector, according to what Jean-Noel Barrot explained. He was working for the French energy company ENGIE, which decided to suspend him following these leaks due to “elements that were made aware of, and which were covered by some media outlets, related to a period prior to his joining the group.”
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Read in newspapers © France 24
Fabrice Aidan began his diplomatic career in 2000 as a trainee Foreign Affairs Secretary through the Foreign Competition in the Middle East and North Africa Department before establishing himself in the same position a year and a half later.
“Non-senior-ranking technical diplomat”
Aidan was sent to the United Nations in New York in 2006. At the beginning of his exchange of letters with Jeffrey Epstein in 2010, he was an advisor to Norwegian Terje Rudlarsen, the special envoy to the United Nations Secretariat. Rudlarsen and his wife Mona Jul are under investigation in Norway on charges of “complicity in aggravated corruption” due to their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
It is worth noting that the couple played a prominent role in the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s.
For his part, Gerard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations between 2009 and 2014, explained in a statement to Agence France-Presse that Fabrice Aidan was “more like a little assistant” to Terje Rudlarsen. He “took care of the logistical aspects and organized his field visits,” describing him as a “technical diplomat” with a “not high” rank.
According to Le Figaro daily, Aydan, in his direct correspondence with Epstein, sent documents and reports issued by the United Nations, including the content of a conversation between former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Turkish Foreign Minister.
Browse porn sites
He also received requests from Epstein, such as inquiring about Terje Rudlarsen’s shoe size to give him a pair bearing his initials. Epstein also asked Aidan to seek a visa for a Norwegian woman, to which he replied: “Let me check.” In 2012, the diplomat also arranged for Terje Rudlarsen to stay in Epstein’s Parisian apartment, and sought to invite the American to Abu Dhabi to meet with government officials and local financiers.
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© France 24
In 2013, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation put Fabrice Aidan under the microscope, in addition to his exchanges with Epstein. Meanwhile, the Mediapart website reported that the United Nations had then received a notification from the office regarding an investigation that might implicate him in New York on suspicion of browsing child pornographic websites. The international organization decided to open an internal investigation. However, the diplomat left his post before the end of the period during which he was appointed.
He was returned to France quickly, according to the same source. A book published in 2016 entitled “The Hidden Face of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” by journalist Vincent Jover referred to these facts without mentioning the name of the person concerned. Gerard Araud confirmed to Agence France-Presse that “he was informed by the United Nations Security Service that the FBI had transmitted to them a report stating that Fabrice Aidan had accessed child pornographic sites.”
The Speaker of the National Assembly refuses to open a discussion about the Epstein scandal and its repercussions in France
He added that the report included “a list of browsing operations with times and days,” and showed “repeated visits” to those sites. Araud stressed that the man “did not escape, but was returned to France to have his situation processed legally and psychologically by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” stressing that he did not “know what the investigation procedures later led to.”
These leaks come at a time when the President of the National Assembly announced her refusal to open a discussion within the Assembly about the Epstein scandal and its repercussions on the French women who fell victim to the American sex criminal and on those potentially involved in it, such as Fabrice Aidan and others.
Yael Brun-Bivé, President of the French National Assembly, said: “The National Assembly’s investigative committee should not compete with the judiciary. The judiciary must intervene in this case to reveal whether there is a relationship with French officials.”
The Proud France Party had called for an investigation to be opened by French representatives, but to no avail. Will the National Assembly change its position as new information emerges, from time to time, indicating either the presence of new French victims or new participants in the sex scandal?
France 24
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World News
Source 1 : https://www.france24.com/ar/فرنسا/20260212-فابريس-أيدان-دبلوماسية-فرنسا-قضية-إبستين-مجرم-الجنس-الأمريكي
Source 2 : ألدستور
