Siad’s body was discovered at his residence in Colombes, a suburb of the French capital, Marie-Céline Lawrysz, deputy public prosecutor at the Nanterre Judicial Court, told CNN on Wednesday.

Authorities said an autopsy would be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Siad recently spoke to CNN, denying any knowledge that women he introduced to Epstein had been abused. He said Epstein had assured him that he had paid for his past crimes and that nothing similar would happen again.

“I trusted him and believed this guy was a professional person,” Siad told CNN in an interview published in June. He said none of the women he referred to Epstein had ever reported mistreatment to him.

According to CNN, Siad believed Epstein worked as a casting director for Victoria’s Secret and the modelling agency MC2, although the broadcaster said it found no evidence to support that claim.

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office said an investigation launched in February into Siad over allegations of human trafficking and criminal conspiracy would continue despite his death.

Prosecutors said 24 women have either come forward or been identified during the investigation, while at least 16 have already been interviewed. However, authorities said they had not gathered sufficient evidence to arrest Siad before his death.

The prosecutor’s office told CNN that Siad had been subjected to special investigative measures, including telephone intercepts, but these had not produced enough evidence to justify his immediate arrest.

CNN reported that files released by the US Department of Justice show Epstein paid Siad tens of thousands of dollars. The documents include messages in which Siad sent Epstein photographs and descriptions of young women he met during his travels, recommending some as potential models or assistants.

In one 2018 email cited by CNN, Siad said he was searching for a “good looking young assistant” for Epstein. In another exchange, after Siad sent a photograph of a woman, Epstein reportedly replied: “Too old.”

According to CNN affiliate BFMTV, Siad’s name appears more than 2,000 times in the US Department of Justice’s Epstein files.

Russian-born model Svetlana Pozhidaeva, who previously told CNN that Siad introduced her to Epstein and that Epstein later abused her, said she was saddened that Siad would no longer face justice.

“If it wasn’t for him, my life would have unfolded completely differently,” she said, adding that she had hoped the investigation would provide accountability and closure.

Siad’s lawyer, Ménya Arab-Tigrine, said his client had been willing to cooperate with investigators and maintained his innocence.

In a statement to CNN, the lawyer urged authorities to await the autopsy results and stressed that Siad had never been prosecuted or formally implicated in legal proceedings.

It also reported that Siad had separately denied allegations by another model, who accused him of raping her while she was working in France in 1990.

The investigation into Epstein’s links with the international modelling industry remains ongoing in France.