Former French culture minister Jack Lang and his daughter, film producer Caroline Lang, are the latest art world figures revealed to have had ties with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
Correspondence between Epstein and the Langs appears in the documents published Friday by the US Department of Justice, and Caroline Lang has resigned from her position as a general delegate with the Syndicat des Producteurs Indépendants, a union of independent media producers, after her financial ties with Epstein were revealed.
Caroline said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that she severed ties with a company, Prytanee LLC, which she worked with Epstein to establish, when she learned of the financier’s criminal acts.
President of Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe since 2013, Jack Lang was minister of culture under former French president François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993. He also served as minister of national education, from 1992 to 1993 and from 2000 to 2002. As culture minister, he established the annual all-day public music festival Fête de la Musique in 1982.
In a statement to the AP, Jack Lang acknowledged that he met Epstein “about fifteen years ago” through comedian and director Woody Allen, adding that this happened “at a time when nothing suggested he could be at the heart of a criminal network.”
Lang requested favors such as the use of Epstein’s car or plane for himself or his family, Le Monde has reported. The latest release also includes exchanges between Epstein and the Lang family about the possible sale of a house in Morocco owned by a third party, Le Monde reports.
“When I form a friendly relationship with someone, I don’t usually ask them about their criminal record,” said Lang. “I trust people. I enjoy the chance encounters of everyday life. That’s how my life continues to unfold. I was completely taken aback when I discovered the crimes he had committed.”
He continued, “If I had been informed of this, I would have immediately stopped all contact with him. … I was deeply shocked by the revelations about Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activities, just as I am shocked today to be associated with a criminal, often through innuendo, sometimes with a clear intention to harm me. Therefore, I am determined to take legal action against anyone who spreads threatening, hateful, and defamatory remarks about me.”
Caroline Lang is revealed to have founded Prytanee with Epstein in 2016. She tells Mediapart that Epstein “told my father and me that he wanted to invest in young French and international artists, to help them. He offered to set up a fund and I said yes. I didn’t take care of anything. It was Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers who did everything, in terms of editing.” She described Epstein in her statement to the AFP as a “cultured man, passionate about contemporary art.”
According to Mediapart, Prytanee had $1.4 million in its accounts. Lang admits she failed to declare the company to the French tax authorities but says she received no compensation from it. She also appears in a will signed by Epstein two days before his death, of which she says she was unaware, promising her $5 million.
The files came as part of a release of some 3 million additional pages of data released on January 30. In its announcement of the release, the Justice Department cited the Epstein Files Transparency Act of November 19, 2025, which mandated all the files be released by December 19, but victim advocates claim that potentially millions more documents are still being held in secret.
