Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has seized the courts to report alleged facts involving diplomat Fabrice Aidan in the Epstein case. Aidan, who exchanged numerous emails with the financier, has been suspended by his employer Engie. An administrative inquiry and disciplinary procedure have also been initiated.
On February 10, 2026, Jean-Noël Barrot, Foreign Minister, announced he had seized the public prosecutor under article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to report the 'alleged facts' implicating Fabrice Aidan. This French diplomat, principal secretary of foreign affairs for the Orient from 2010 to 2017 and posted at the Quai d'Orsay for 25 years, appears nearly 200 times in the three million declassified documents of the Epstein case.
According to Radio France and Mediapart, Aidan exchanged dozens of direct emails, sometimes familiar, with Jeffrey Epstein between 2010 and 2017. He participated in email loops including Epstein and his team. The first exchanges date back to 2010, when Aidan was seconded to the United Nations as advisor to Norwegian diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen. Aidan provided Epstein with diplomatic information, services, and international contacts, sending UN documents via his professional email, for example. Epstein even asked Aidan for Rod-Larsen's shoe size for a gift.
In 2013, the FBI alerted the UN to a potential investigation involving Aidan in New York. Currently on leave for personal reasons and employed by the Engie group, Aidan did not respond to media inquiries. Engie has suspended his duties due to elements reported by the media, concerning a period prior to his entry into the company.
Barrot has also initiated an administrative inquiry and launched a disciplinary procedure. Terje Rod-Larsen and his wife Mona Juul are subject to an investigation in Norway for corruption linked to Epstein. At this stage, the public exchanges do not link Aidan to Epstein's sex crimes.
