France\u2019s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center<\/b>
\nFrance\u2019s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.
He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s.
Lang, 86, was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his resignation.
He \u201cis very sad and deeply hurt to be leaving a position he loves,\u201d his lawyer Laurent Merlet said Sunday on RTL radio. \u201cHe put the interests of the Arab World Institute first,\u201d Merlet said, adding that his client denied the allegations and called them inaccurate.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed his resignation Saturday evening.
The financial prosecutors‘ office said it had opened an investigation into Lang and his daughter, Caroline, over alleged \u201caggravated tax fraud laundering.\u201d
French investigative news website Mediapart reported last week on alleged financial and business ties between the Lang family and Jeffrey Epstein through an offshore company based in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea.
Jack Lang’s name was mentioned more than 600 times in the Epstein files, showing intermittent correspondence between 2012 and 2019. His daughter was also in the released files.
Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot has \u201ctaken note\u201d of Lang’s resignation and began the process to look for his successor, the foreign ministry said.
Lang headed the Arab World Institute since 2013.<\/p>\n