GENEVA

French financial prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into former Culture Minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline Lang over suspected "aggravated tax fraud laundering," according to Le Parisien.

Citing a judicial source, the newspaper reported Saturday that the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) launched the probe after revelations about correspondence and financial links between the two and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

According to an investigation published earlier this week by Mediapart and referenced by Le Parisien, Caroline Lang co-founded an offshore company, Prytanee LLC, with Epstein in 2016. The company was registered in the US Virgin Islands.

She also appeared in a financial will signed by Epstein two days before his death that promised her $5 million, a sum she says she was unaware of.

"The PNF is opening a preliminary investigation against Jack Lang and Caroline Lang on charges of aggravated tax fraud laundering, following Mediapart’s article," a judicial source told Le Parisien.

After the revelations, Caroline Lang resigned Monday from her post as general delegate of the Independent Production Union (SPI).

"I do not wish in any way for this situation to weaken or harm the union," she said, adding that she had received "no remuneration, nor any benefit" from the fund created with Epstein, according to the report.

Separately, Jack Lang is expected to explain his own links to the American financier to France's Foreign Ministry, the main funder of the Arab World Institute in Paris, which he chairs.