Lang resigns as AWI president over Epstein ties

A former French culture minister, Jack Lang, has resigned as president of the Arab World Institute (AWI), following revelations of his past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein and the launch of a financial investigation.

The French Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this on Saturday, February 7, 2026.

The French Financial Prosecutor’s Office had opened an investigation into Lang and his daughter Caroline on suspicion of “aggravated tax fraud laundering”.

Calls for Lang to step down intensified since files released on January 30 by the United States Department of Justice showed Epstein and Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and 2019, when the financier died by suicide in jail.

French media said the preliminary investigation had been opened after the U.S. documents revealed years of correspondence and financial links between Lang and Epstein.

The office confirmed the investigation but did not provide further details.

French presidency summons AWI president Lang over Epstein links

Lang had been summoned to report on Sunday to the Foreign Ministry, which supervises the Arab World Institute, a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world.

Lang said earlier on X that he welcomed the investigation “with serenity and even relief.”

“The accusations levelled against me are baseless, and I will demonstrate this, beyond the sound and fury of the media and digital courts,” the former minister added.

Lang’s name appears more than 600 times in the Epstein files, according to a Reuters review of them.

On Monday, Caroline Lang, a long-time media executive, resigned as head of France’s Independent Production Union after her own links to Epstein surfaced.

The Star