
Longtime Epstein associate Daniel Siad – himself accused of human trafficking and rape – was found dead last week. Where does that leave those pursuing justice? With former model Ebba Karlsson and journalist Amelia Gentleman
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Helen Pitt
This is the Guardian. Today, yet another of Jeffrey Epstein's enablers dies without facing justice. Today.
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Ebba Carlson
Plus.
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Helen Pitt
Throughout the 2000s, Jeffrey Epstein split his time living between his various luxury properties. A penthouse in New York, a private island in the Caribbean, a waterfront mansion in Palm Beach. Meanwhile, a small army of middlemen were fanned out across the world, scouting for young women to introduce to the billionaire. Daniel Siad was one of those middlemen, a model scout.
Amelia Gentleman
Officially, Siad would regularly email Epstein from whichever country he was in. Sometimes it was Slovakia, sometimes it was the Czech Republic or Poland or Hungary, updating him on the work that he was doing.
Helen Pitt
Amelia Gentleman is a senior reporter at
Amelia Gentleman
the Guardian, and he gave very detailed summaries of who he'd met and why he thought Epstein might like them. He often wouldn't actually name any of the women, but he would give their nationalities, he'd give their ages, and he'd sometimes give their waist and bust measurements.
Helen Pitt
Siad and Epstein had first met in the early 2000s and stayed in touch for well over a decade. When Epstein was jailed for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14 back in 2008, some of his associates cut him off, but not Siad.
Amelia Gentleman
Seyad often would try to emphasize that the women that he'd found for Epstein appeared very youthful, or were indeed very youthful. On one occasion, he said he'd met a woman who was 26 but looked 18. And on another occasion, he told him he'd had a very successful visit to an Eastern European country where he'd met several women who were 15 or 16 who he said would be ready the following year to go into the industry.
Helen Pitt
Just months before Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in 2019, siad was messaging him about new women he'd scouted. Then suddenly, Epstein died in his prison cell, and Siad, never a public figure, faded into obscurity until a few months ago, when the Department of Justice in the US Began releasing a huge trove of Documents detailing years of correspondence between Epstein and his associates. And Siad's name appeared thousands of times. And he found himself entangled in the messy web of questions surrounding how Jeffrey Epstein's abuse and trafficking operation actually worked.
Amelia Gentleman
You were aware his conviction for child sex?
Daniel Siad
Me? You're repeating the same question all the time.
Helen Pitt
And as of this year, he was under investigation himself.
Amelia Gentleman
SED was accused both of human trafficking and also of rape. He was being investigated by France's central office for combating human trafficking.
Helen Pitt
He denied it all. And then last week, a French model
Amelia Gentleman
recruiter linked to Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home in the suburbs.
Helen Pitt
Siad was found dead at a house on the outskirts of Paris from a heart attack. According to his lawyer, Siad was one of several French men accused of procuring
Legal Expert/Commentator
women for Epstein, and the second man who has died after being publicly linked to him.
Helen Pitt
His death leaves behind a series of questions that will now go unanswered about Epstein's ring of enablers and about seat's own alleged crimes. From the Guardian. Hi, everyone, I'm Helen Pitt. Today in focus, another one gone as justice slips away from Epstein's survivors.
Ebba Carlson
So in the late 80s, early 90s, I was in Stockholm, Sweden, where I grew up and where I lived.
Helen Pitt
This is Ebba Carlson. She first met Daniel Seyad in the summer of 1990 when she was 20, but he introduced himself under a different name, Daniel Goldberg.
Ebba Carlson
So we were outside in Kungstergorden, which is like the big park in downtown Stockholm. And so I was there with my boyfriend and friends and suddenly we're approached by this French guy who is a model scout. And he approaches me saying, do you work as a model? You would be perfect for this model shoot we're doing in Monaco. And it was basically a one way ticket. So I was promised, you know, for motto, a lot of money at the time. So as I arrived in Nice on the Riviera, French Riviera, I took a bus and went to Monaco and he never showed up. So I had a number and I called the number and said, I'm here. And he sounded really surprised, like, oh, really? Like you're here? And I'm like, yeah, well, we had an appointment, I'm going to do this work and everything. And so he came down, picked me up at the phone booth and seemed like irritated. And I thought, that's so odd.
Helen Pitt
From there, this Daniel Goldberg took her to meet the owner of a swimsuit company she was supposedly going to model for. But when they arrived, the swimsuit guy Told them, you're too late. We've already done the shoot.
Ebba Carlson
So Daniel said, don't worry. I'm going to get you another job. And then he said, let's go to Cannes, because I have friends there and they're going to help us out. So we took the train to this little village outside Cannes, and I struggled with my suitcase, carried up this hill, coming to this villa, and started knocking on the villa, and nobody's home. And he says, that's all right. Let's go on the back of the house. We can get in. But it was shut down. It was covered up. And then he says, well, that's all right, because we can stay in the pool house. I looked around. There was a big pool, you know, overlooking the Mediterranean and very beautiful. But the pool shack, the pool house was, when we opened the door, just a cement building. It had nothing inside. It was just very dirty. But the first thing I see is two small mattresses on the floor with dirty sheets. And I freak out, and I think, am I going to sleep here with him? And that I got scared because nobody really knew where I was. And so at the time when we're about to go to bed and sleep, he's basically all over me saying that, you're so cold. Why are you so cold? Why can you just relax? And why? I didn't have the energy or the willpower to resist. I was too scared to. And so, yeah, I was raped there. Afterwards, I blamed myself because I thought, well, why didn't I fight back or punch him or run away? But I was too scared to.
Helen Pitt
The next day, she asked Daniel if she could call her parents, and he accompanied her to a phone booth, standing outside while she made the call, listening in. She wanted to go home to Sweden, but she needed Daniel to arrange her flight. And he was still promising her a modeling job.
Ebba Carlson
And then he said, well, you know what? I arranged a casting at Elite. I didn't know anything about the model agencies or the industry at all. So I was like, well, that sounds good. And he said, well, it's the most famous prestigious model agency. And so we traveled to Paris.
Helen Pitt
In Paris, Daniel had arranged for Ebba to meet the owner of Elite Models, one of the most powerful figures in the fashion industry, a man named Gerald Marie.
Ebba Carlson
And I was very impressed. You know, this is a huge office. Beautiful. And for what was maybe like two hours or something, we sat down by the table, and he started asking all these questions, like, who do you want to be? What's your dream? And you're so beautiful, and you could be so famous. And I have this movie coming out, and since you speak French, you can do this movie. And after a while, he gets closer and closer, becoming very affectionate. And. And he takes out all these portfolios with the famous models. And he's asking me, like, do you recognize them? And I said, yeah, I do. And he said, what do you think they did to earn six figures? And as he says that, he pushes his hand inside my legs, into my privates. And at that point, I just froze. And I didn't know what to do, so I just pull away. And later I'm like, I think I need to think about this. We end the meeting and I go outside and I sit on the bench and I just cry because I don't know what to do. I guess I go back to where I was staying with Daniel and I'm just broken. I don't know. I don't remember much about this time, to be honest. And later on, what I can remember is that I was walking the street in Champs with Daniel, and suddenly I see another friend from Sweden, and I am very happy to see him. And I tell him a little bit what happened to me and telling him, I don't know how to get home. I don't know what to do. And Daniel's overhearing this, and so Daniel comes up and starts screaming, like, don't tell lies. And then he pulls me away saying that I could fucking have you killed. You don't know who I know. I know the head of police in Paris. And then I'm terrified. Like, I don't know how to if it's a joke or if it's true. So I decided, like, I gotta get home. And so I called Gerald Marie and asked him for a meeting. And then I said, I want to work with you. I just need to go back home and get my driver's license and talk to my. My boyfriend and quit my job and so on. And so he gives me the ticket to go back home to Sweden. And on the plane, I cannot tell you how. That's when I could breathe, basically. And for years, I was scared that they were going to come after me.
Helen Pitt
In 2020, French prosecutors launched an investigation into Gerald Marie, the elite model boss, after four women, including Ebert, made allegations of rape and sexual assault against him, all of which he has repeatedly denied. That investigation has since closed after prosecutors concluded that the alleged crimes happened too long ago to be tried in a French court. But some of Marie's alleged victims, six women in total, are Refusing to give up. Just this month, they launched a case against him, accusing him of rape and human trafficking. He's denied these allegations too. Ebert never saw Daniel again. But in 2017, she was writing a memoir and wanted to see if she could find out more about him. She searched as best she could for a fashion industry scout by the name of Daniel Goldberg, but nothing turned up. At the end of last year, she found out why.
Ebba Carlson
I received a call from my lawyer at the time and she said, I have a journalist who thinks he found your scout. And I'm like, oh, my God, really? And so he sends me a picture and I look at it and I'm like, oh, my gosh, it could be him, but he was old, so I wasn't sure. So I asked him, do you have a younger picture? And he sends it to me and that's when I freak out because it's him and I have goosebumps and shivers down my spine. And I can't believe we found the man after 36 years. And so he says, you won't believe this, but he's in the Epstein files. And they're like more than 2,000 emails with his name, but it's Daniel Siad.
Helen Pitt
As soon as a new batch of Epstein files were released at the start of this year, Amelia Gentleman started combing through them.
Amelia Gentleman
Well, going through the Department of Justice Epstein files is a really, really fascinating process. I don't know if you've ever logged on or looked at it, Helen, but you are able to rifle through thousands and thousands of emails between Epstein and an enormous network of people who he was either friends with or was relying on to help organize his life. And you get from that an incredibly clear picture of the kinds of people both that he wanted to be friends with, that he wanted to sort of show off to, but also on the other side, the people that he relied on to organize his life for him. So we know that Daniel Siad was 69. We know that he was born in Algeria, but acquired later in life both French and Swedish citizenship. He was a model scout who travelled around the world meeting young women who he thought might have potential to work in the modeling industry. And he really went pretty much everywhere. He spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe, Sweden, parts of South America and Cuba.
Legal Expert/Commentator
Right. And whenever we talk about Epstein, we usually describe him as a sort of multi millionaire financier. Was he actually involved in the modeling industry? Could there be a legitimate reason why Siad was sending him girls?
Amelia Gentleman
So Epstein had investments in a couple of modelling agencies. He was working with Victoria's Secret and also with an organisation called MC2, another modelling agency. But I think one of the strangest things about Siad and Epstein's relationship was the sense that Siad appeared to have that Epstein was and should be very closely involved in the recruitment of models for these agencies. Which does seem quite peculiar because Epstein obviously was somebody who wasn't managing the day to day castings for these model agencies. So on the face of it, it was a very peculiar setup that Sead was sending Epstein regularly. Women who Epstein would cast his eye over and make promises to about furthering their modeling careers. It feels very, very odd to say the least. Yeah, so I started looking at these files in the beginning of February. I wasn't actually looking to understand anything about Daniel Sead at the time. I didn't know who he was. He wasn't an incredibly well known figure outside of the modeling industry. But I did notice the more of the emails I read that his name kept coming up. The other really kind of remarkable thing, I suppose about their correspondence is that it, I mean, well, it explains a lot about how the recruitment of models process works, but it also gives a kind of very unfiltered insight into Epstein's insatiable appetite for meeting new young women. And yeah, you see really close up how Epstein put pressure on his enablers to find new people for him to meet, ostensibly for these modeling casting appointments. Sometimes he would give Epstein details of how he was getting on. Sometimes the work was very difficult. And he told Epstein on one occasion that one of the fathers of a prospective model had got angry with him, had punched him and had broken his nose. He liked to update Epstein on how patient you had to be when you were scouting for models. And in one email in 2014, he told Epstein, in this business, I feel like fisherman, Sometimes I catch quick, sometimes no fish. And there's a really interesting power dynamic on display in the emails between Epstein and Siad. Siad sends long detailed emails to Epstein explaining what he's done, what he's seen. And Epstein's replies are incredibly succinct and quite terse. He'll say, what about new girls, Any interesting women? And he would also often respond with just a one word answer to Siad's correspondence, saying simply a question mark.
Legal Expert/Commentator
And so Siad's name really entered the frame earlier this year, as you said, with the release of the Epstein files, did he, Siad, ever talk out about what was contained with them? How did he defend himself?
Amelia Gentleman
Yeah. So in June he sat down for a CNN interview where he insisted that his work with Epstein was strictly professional.
Daniel Siad
Because I never heard anything from anyone. I introduced him who came back to me that they had a bad situation with him.
Amelia Gentleman
He consistently denied any wrongdoing and he described retrospectively having known Epstein as a nightmare. Do you have any regret about meeting Jeffrey Epstein?
Daniel Siad
Yes.
Amelia Gentleman
He said that he had truly believed Epstein to be a casting director. You believe Epstein was a casting director?
Daniel Siad
That's how he had been introduced and how he introduced myself. Also.
Amelia Gentleman
He said that it was unreasonable to expect him to have really looked into Epstein's background and connections. And he said, I'm nobody. I'm somebody from the mountain.
Daniel Siad
When you meet somebody, a billionaire, well known person worldwide and so on, he was such a powerful person and how can I not trust him?
Amelia Gentleman
So I think in the last month or so, he really worked hard at trying to promote himself as an innocent in all of this. And certainly his lawyer also tried to minimize the significance of the many, many communications between the two men. And she told the Guardian in a statement that the worst thing about these files is that he and Epstein talk in language that we as women don't like. But she said he was working as a modeling scout and sending details to Epstein. Of the women, there's no evidence of any crime, right?
Helen Pitt
That may well be true, but it doesn't take away the fact that Siad was providing Epstein with young women after Epstein's conviction for child sex offences. And Siad knew full well, didn't he, that Epstein had been jailed for that.
Daniel Siad
So for me, he's free man, he's clean. How can the government of United States let this person out from jail? How?
Helen Pitt
And at the time he died, Seyad himself was being investigated for both rape and human trafficking. How far along was that investigation?
Amelia Gentleman
So the French prosecutors have been contacted by 24 women who made allegations against Siad. By the time of his death, they had interviewed a number of them, but were still waiting to question, I think, a further 8. Seat himself hadn't yet been questioned. This week. The French prosecutors have really responded, I suppose, with some defensiveness because they've been very heavily criticised by a number of his victims about how slowly they had responded in the wake of these allegations.
Legal Expert/Commentator
And Daniel Sead was one of a number of model scouts and agencies who kept in very close contact with Jeffrey Epstein. Are there investigations into other people in that world and their connections to Epstein?
Amelia Gentleman
Yes. And I think one of the reasons why there's so much frustration about the fact that Daniel Seyad has died without being tried, without his case being heard in a court is because we've seen this happening before. So another of the most prominent modeling scouts of the last 40 years was Jean Luc Brunel, who was also being investigated for abuse of models and for his ties to Epstein. But he committed suicide in jail before his case was heard.
Helen Pitt
Coming up, the questions left behind after Daniel Sead's death.
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Helen Pitt
Amelia Siad was found dead at his home on the outskirts of Paris last week, and his lawyer initially suggested that he died from a heart attack. What did the post mortem say?
Amelia Gentleman
The autopsy last Friday found no evidence of foul play. We still don't have the precise cause of death and there are going to be some more toxicology and pathology tests to try and give a bit more information. But investigators said that there was no evidence that there'd been any foul play, no evidence of any recent violence that might have caused the death. We also learned that it was clear that Siad had not been in good health and that he had previously suffered a heart attack.
Helen Pitt
But we've already seen that his death has aroused some suspicion, shall we say, as well as pretty wild speculation given his connection to Epstein. The timing is weird, don't you think? Now I don't know if there was any, any wrongdoing that occurred. I think it's good that the frontal
Amelia Gentleman
autopsy will be performed on the body
Ebba Carlson
to determine the cause of death.
Daniel Siad
Would love to know who was doing that.
Ebba Carlson
It'll be legitimate. It'll be very legitimate.
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Which leads us to the elephant in the room.
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Was Daniel Said murdered to silence him?
Helen Pitt
Do you think it's understandable that people are reluctant to believe that he died from natural causes?
Amelia Gentleman
I think it's completely understandable that anyone involved in this case will be looking really, really closely at what's happened.
Legal Expert/Commentator
And.
Amelia Gentleman
And I can understand why people would be suspicious. We know that there are ongoing questions about Epstein's death, and I think the length of time that there's been before we've had any firm investigative results has helped to fuel that skepticism about pretty much everything that we know about these cases. And it certainly is the case that. But Siad's death is just a really stark reminder that justice delayed is justice denied, and that the prosecuting authorities have to work faster to secure some kind of justice for the women who were abused by Epstein and his large network of facilitators and friends.
Ebba Carlson
So I was the first woman to come forward and filed a complaint against him on 10th of February this year for rape and human trafficking. And then more survivors came forward. So at the end of the day, we were five that had filed the complaint against rape, And I think 10 in total for human trafficking and rape. And so we heard already in April he was going to be arrested. Then it was pushed to May, then was pushed to June, and they said before the summer he's going to be arrested. So we were waiting, waiting and very. Being anxious. You know, it's like a lot of stress to just sit and wait, not knowing what's going to happen.
Legal Expert/Commentator
Yeah. And he knew full well what was coming, didn't he? There was no secret.
Ebba Carlson
Well, he said it himself. He wanted to be heard by the police. And so the shock to hear. The other day, I was actually flying from Sweden to the US So I just heard the message when I was in London, Heathrow, and I couldn't believe my ears, you know, Like, I. I was so shocked. Like, I can't believe he died. He's dead. And I felt so sad because, you know, his death could have been prevented had they arrested him in time.
Legal Expert/Commentator
And does his death mean that you've reached the end, really, of your quest for justice?
Ebba Carlson
No, no, not at all. I think it's. We still. It's not about him, you know, it's not about only Epstein. It's a network of people that have been collaborating for years. I mean, he was a model agent or scout for 40 years at least. So we need to know the truth about it, first of all, and hold the people accountable that know things. And so I think it's. It's very. I think it's very sad. I think it's. I feel for him. I feel for his family. I wish he wasn't dead. And it's sad and unnecessary and I'm angry at the prosecutors and I think they should be held accountable.
Helen Pitt
That was Ebba Carlson and Guardian senior reporter Amelia Gentleman. My thanks to both of them. And that is all for today. This episode was produced by Alex Atak and Eli Block and presented by me, Helen Pitt. Sound design was by Brienne McNamara and the executive producer was Sammy Kent. We're back in your feeds this afternoon with the latest. This is the Guardian.
Legal Expert/Commentator
Foreign
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The Guardian | July 29, 2026 | Host: Helen Pitt
This episode of Today in Focus examines the death of Daniel Siad, a model scout and close associate of Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his Paris home amid ongoing investigations into his alleged role in human trafficking and sexual abuse. Through investigative journalism, survivor testimony, and legal commentary, the episode explores how Siad operated, the impact on Epstein’s victims, the slow pace of legal proceedings, and the implications of Siad’s death for the pursuit of justice.
Epstein’s Enablers:
Siad’s Death:
Recruitment by Siad (Alias Daniel Goldberg):
Aftermath & Discovery of Siad’s Identity:
Analysis of Siad–Epstein Correspondence:
Modeling Industry Facade:
Denial of Wrongdoing:
“I never heard anything from anyone I introduced him who came back to me that they had a bad situation with him.” — Daniel Siad (19:06)
“When you meet somebody, a billionaire, well known person worldwide and so on... he was such a powerful person and how can I not trust him?” — Daniel Siad (19:57)
Prosecutorial Response:
Suspicion Around Siad’s Death:
“Siad’s death is just a really stark reminder that justice delayed is justice denied.” — Amelia Gentleman (25:37)
Impact on Survivors:
“It’s not about only Epstein. It’s a network of people collaborating for years... We need to know the truth about it, first of all, and hold the people accountable that know things.” — Ebba Carlson (28:00)
On Siad’s Methods:
“He often wouldn't actually name any of the women, but he would give their nationalities, he'd give their ages, and he'd sometimes give their waist and bust measurements.” — Amelia Gentleman (02:01)
On Victim Intimidation:
“He pulls me away, saying that I could fucking have you killed. You don't know who I know. I know the head of police in Paris.” — Ebba Carlson (10:46)
On the Model Network:
“Sometimes the work was very difficult. He told Epstein on one occasion that one of the fathers of a prospective model had got angry with him, had punched him and had broken his nose.” — Amelia Gentleman (17:33)
Inquiry into Siad’s Remorse:
“Do you have any regret about meeting Jeffrey Epstein?” — Amelia Gentleman (19:32)
“Yes.” — Daniel Siad (19:33)
On Justice for Victims:
“Siad's death is just a really stark reminder that justice delayed is justice denied, and that the prosecuting authorities have to work faster.” — Amelia Gentleman (25:37)
The episode is investigative, direct, empathetic toward survivors, and somewhat urgent in calling attention to systemic failures. The journalism is serious, with space given for personal testimony and measured legal analysis. There is an undercurrent of frustration at the ongoing denial of justice and the pattern of key figures evading accountability.
The death of Daniel Siad represents yet another instance in the Epstein saga where accountability slips away before survivors’ claims are heard in court. This episode shines a light on the continued need for transparency, survivor support, and timely legal action against those who enabled and abetted sexual exploitation within the modeling industry’s dark underbelly.
For further reading and updates, visit The Guardian’s coverage on the Epstein case and related investigations.