Overview
- France’s Parquet national financier has launched an inquiry into alleged aggravated tax-fraud laundering involving the former culture minister.
- Lang resigned as president of the Institut du monde arabe after the probe was opened, according to the latest reports.
- The investigation follows media revelations about an offshore company created in 2016 by his daughter Caroline with an American businessman, with Lang’s name appearing in the statutes.
- Lang denies wrongdoing, says everything was legal, insists he never received money from Jeffrey Epstein, and acknowledges a single dinner with Epstein in Paris while saying he did not know of the 2009 conviction.
- Press accounts describe a pattern of first‑class travel and luxury hotels with complaints from hoteliers over demands and bills, which Lang rejects as false by stating he pays his invoices.