International Corruption and Financial Crime

French financial police raided the Paris headquarters of the Arab World Institute and several other locations on Monday, seeking documents tied to former culture minister Jack Lang as part of an expanding investigation into his alleged financial links with Jeffrey Epstein, even as Lang and his wife deny any wrongdoing. The Arab World Institute, which Lang led until his resignation last month, is part of France’s foreign ministry, making the search a significant escalation by the National Financial Prosecutor after Paris prosecutors set up a dedicated team to comb through newly released Epstein records. The raids came just after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter announcing that the Justice Department has now released "all" Epstein‑related records required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, along with a list of more than 300 high‑profile names — including Donald Trump, Barack and Michelle Obama, Prince Harry, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg — whose names appear at least once in those files. DOJ emphasizes that the appearances range from extensive direct contact with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell to incidental mentions in press clippings and other documents, but the breadth of the list is already fueling political and media scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad. For a U.S. audience, the Paris raids illustrate how the American‑ordered disclosure regime is triggering concrete law‑enforcement actions in allied countries, while Bondi’s "all files released" claim and the publication of a sweeping name list will intensify domestic fights over how DOJ handled the Epstein investigation, who is actually implicated, and whether any powerful figures still enjoy protection.