‘Really a lot of amazing beauty’: emails show how model scout connected Epstein with young women

Daniel Siad, accused by a Swedish model of rape, appears in more than 1,000 documents in latest declassified files

“In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish,” Daniel Siad, a model scout, wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in July 2014, explaining the frustrations of his work scouring the world for future models.

In this exchange, released in the latest batch of US Department of Justice documents, Siad was annoyed with Epstein, who had failed to turn up for a planned meeting.

“I had 2 girls from Sweden, a Slovakian, 2 French and [redacted] the Russian, with whom you spoke and a beautiful Chinese named [redacted],” he wrote. Epstein tried to reassure him, writing: “I will reimburse you of course for any expenses.”

Analysis of the correspondence between Epstein and one of his many fixers reveals the work that went into setting up appointments with a constant stream of young women in the decade after his release from prison on charges of procuring a child for prostitution.

On this occasion, Siad was eager not to fall out with Epstein and noted: “I wanted to make for you a great surprise.” He was happy to report that a recent trip to Scandinavia had been very productive: at least five of the girls he had met were just 16 or 17, and there was a 15-year-old girl from France whose parents were happy for her to start modelling. “There are millions of them out there,” he wrote.

The modelling industry was a useful route for Epstein to meet young women, and he took a consistently close interest in the low-level business of finding new faces, while simultaneously cultivating friendships with senior industry figures.

The files show Siad as one of Epstein’s most loyal correspondents, remaining in regular contact with him until months before the financier’s death, receiving wired payments from Epstein apparently in lieu of expenses incurred.

Over the course of a decade he wrote regularly with updates on the progress of his scouting visits to villages in eastern Europe, islands in Sweden, central Havana, where he was also keeping an eye out for suitable young women for Epstein to meet.

Though little known outside the world of modelling, Siad was well connected. He worked as a scout on commission for Jean-Luc Brunel, who was the leading agent in Paris, New York and Miami for more than four decades, and had also scouted for Gérald Marie, the former boss of Elite.

Epstein was also working closely with Brunel. In the early 2000s he gave financial backing as Brunel set up MC2 Model Management, and he remained involved for years.

Brunel killed himself in prison in February 2022, having spent 14 months in custody awaiting trial on charges of rape of minors and sexual harassment, which he denied along with any participation in Epstein’s sex trafficking.

Siad’s emails urged Epstein to be in touch to hear about his new discoveries. “Call me if you have time I am in Barcelona. With amazing Beauty,” he wrote in November 2016. The following year he was in touch from Morocco. “Really a lot of amazing beauty!” he wrote. “And very polite.”

Siad appears in more than 1,000 documents in the most recent batch of declassified files. The emails offer an insight into the intensity of the work that went into orchestrating meetings between Epstein and aspiring models.

“Slovakia is the place to be,” Siad wrote to Epstein in 2009, noting that he had 45 women to see there. He told Epstein that he planned to spend the summer “scouting small villages” in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Later that day, Epstein asked: “how much$”.

“I have to invite the parents for lunch or cafe i have some girls already who are there waiting for me like in Poland so I have to give them some money,” Siad wrote, noting that the expenses he was incurring would come in at not less than €4,000. “I will make you a great surprise when you come to Paris,” he promised.

Many emails contained terse inquiries from Epstein. He sent Siad messages asking “wht about new girls?”, “Any news”, “anything worth coming to paris for.?” or “Any interesting women?”. The women were often referred to by nationality rather than their names. “I am in ny, is the swedish girl here?” Epstein asked Said in June 2014.

Siad has said he was providing women to Epstein for legitimate model casting sessions in Paris. “He had a big apartment where he used to organise all his meetings, including casting for models I recruited, for Victoria’s Secret and MC2,” he said in a statement emailed to the Guardian. “The casting time would not last more than 10 minutes. I always left the place with the models immediately.”

Ebba Karlsson alleges Siad scouted her in her home town of Stockholm, Sweden, in 1990, when she was a 20-year-old model. She says he took her to France and raped her. She has spent the past 30 years trying to track him down, but Siad then went by a different name. It is only now, after seeing a photo of him in the latest tranche of Epstein files, that she has finally been able to identify him.

Karlsson, who did not personally have any interactions with Epstein, told the Guardian she had always sensed her experience was “something bigger than me”, which was why she had spent much of the past decade campaigning against the abuse of models in the industry.

“It was something about the way it was done, the people he [Siad] knew … he threatened to kill me and told me that he knew the head of police in Paris. It is very easy to think you’re nobody, but now I know this was part of something bigger. I am relieved that my intuition was right,” she said.

Earlier this month, Karlsson filed criminal allegations of rape and human trafficking against Siad in Paris. Siad has denied Karlsson’s allegations. His lawyer in Paris, Ménya Arab-Tigrine, said Siad did not know Karlsson. “He is 69 and has no previous convictions,” she said, adding that the statute of limitations had expired because the allegations dated from 36 years ago.

Last week Le Parisien reported that a woman whom it referred to as Malika told French police in 2022 that Siad had procured women for Epstein for sexual purposes. She said Siad approached her in the street Paris in 2013, when she was 23, suggested she could become a model, and also offered to introduce her to a powerful financier from New York.

A few days later, she said, she was introduced to Epstein in his Paris apartment and he hired her as a masseuse. Siad told her later that she should recruit more girls for Epstein, the woman claimed. The French police took no action, the woman said in the interview with Le Parisien.

Siad’s lawyer said he had not made the introduction to Epstein. “The worst thing about these files is that he and Epstein talk in language that we as women don’t like,” Arab-Tigrine said. “There is no evidence of any crime. He was working as a modelling scout and sending details to Epstein of the women.”

Siad told France TV this month that he had merely been working as a model scout, Epstein had abused his trust and he had not been “in a position to know that this man was dangerous”.

“With time, one discovers that this individual committed atrocities; fortunately, I never introduced him to any minor or non-minor who was abused. I have nothing to reproach myself for,” he said in comments broadcast on French television.

The files suggest the FBI was tipped off about Siad’s work for Epstein in 2016. This month, French prosecutors announced they were setting up a team of magistrates to analyse evidence from the files, which mention a number of French nationals including Brunel.

Siad, who describes himself as French-born, of Algerian origin with Swedish citizenship, maintained in his response on French television that his dealings with the models he scouted were purely professional. A few of his emails to Epstein mentioned plans for organising meetings with agents, but it is not clear why Epstein had such a hands-on role in vetting aspirant models during a period when he had no formal role himself with any model agencies.

Siad’s emails reveal that Epstein was very demanding. In June 2011, Siad sent Epstein a photograph of a 19-year-old woman, noting: “Measurement 80C – 60 – 90 1m74 Very nice girl.” Epstein replied two days later: “not very interseting, sorry”.

Sometimes Epstein replied with just a one-word answer: “age?”. Siad liked to emphasise that the women he had found for Epstein appeared youthful. He wrote: “26 but she look 18”. Or, describing a 20-year-old, he wrote: “she is very sweet and shy”.

Occasionally, Siad warned Epstein, with characteristically poor spelling, that one of the girls he had recruited was a “bit of head ek” or that they might need plastic surgery to make them more attractive.

In 2017, Siad was in touch from Barcelona with news of a “very polite” woman he hoped to place with a modelling agency. Epstein requested a full-body shot and replied: “doesn’t look happy”. Later, he added: “she is nice her boobs are awful. they will have to be redone.”

Epstein regularly approved payments to Siad’s accountants. In 2018, Epstein forwarded Siad’s bank details to his accountant, noting: “5 year loan for 25k dollars”.

The work was not always straightforward. In 2014, Siad suggested his nose had been broken by the father of a woman he was trying to sign up as a model.

Sometimes, Epstein wanted to have nothing further to do with the women he had been introduced to, and he complained to Siad. In May 2014, Epstein emailed Siad: “[name is unredacted in the files] texted me, i do not want to speak to her, if you pay for her ticket back to latvia I will reimburse you.”

Siad replied: “I am Taking care of her … I will resolve that don’t worry.”

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