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French authorities search Paris arm of Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild in Epstein-linked probe

PARIS (AP) — French financial prosecutors said Tuesday that searches were carried out at several locations, including the Paris arm of Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild, as part of an investigation tied to revelations from the files on Jeffrey Epstein.

France’s national financial prosecutor’s office said searches were carried out last Friday as part of a preliminary investigation opened last month. Investigators are examining suspicions of bribery involving a foreign public official and complicity which concerns former French diplomat Fabrice Aidan.

The investigation was opened after a referral from France’s Foreign Ministry and follows revelations published in the Epstein files and subsequent reporting in France.

The case is being handled by France’s central office for combating corruption and tax and financial offenses.

Aidan emerged as a focus of the French fallout from the release of millions of U.S. Justice Department documents on Jan. 30.

French investigative outlet Mediapart reported that the files suggested Aidan provided confidential U.N. material to Epstein. Aidan has denied wrongdoing.

Aidan’s name reportedly appeared in over 200 documents, including emails sent to Jeffrey Epstein between 2010 and 2016 from personal and U.N. accounts, creating suspicions he shared diplomatic documents with Epstein. Aidan’s lawyer has denied wrongdoing and called for respect for the presumption of innocence.

Epstein, the disgraced U.S. financier and convicted sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

The files have already shaken prominent figures in France.

Former Culture Minister Jack Lang resigned in February as head of the Arab World Institute after prosecutors opened a preliminary tax fraud investigation following the release of Epstein-related documents in the United States.

He was the highest-profile person in France hit by the latest disclosures.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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