For decades, he was the flamboyant architect of French “cool,” the man who brought the Louvre Pyramid to Paris and the Fête de la Musique to the world. But on Saturday, the reign of Jack Lang as the grand statesman of French culture came to a sudden, ignominious halt.
The 86-year-old former Culture Minister has officially offered his resignation as President of the Arab World Institute (IMA), succumbing to a tidal wave of pressure following the release of the “Epstein Files.” The move coincides with the opening of a formal investigation by France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) into Lang and his daughter, Caroline Lang, for suspected “aggravated tax fraud laundering.”
“I have decided to submit my resignation to preserve the institution I love from personal attacks,” Lang wrote in a letter to Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. It is a stunning reversal for a man who, just 48 hours earlier, had vowed to “fight to the end” to clear his name.
The ‘Prytanee’ Connection
The judicial probe centers on explosive revelations from the 3-million-page U.S. Department of Justice document dump. According to the filings and investigative reports by Mediapart, the links between the Lang family and the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein were far from casual.
- The Offshore Entity: In 2016, Caroline Lang co-founded a company called Prytanee LLC with Epstein, registered in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While she claims she was “incredibly naive” and never received funds, prosecutors are investigating whether the entity served as a vehicle for tax evasion.
- The $5 Million Legacy: Chillingly, Caroline Lang’s name appeared in a financial will signed by Epstein just two days before his 2019 suicide. The document promised her a $5 million inheritance, a sum she maintains she had no knowledge of until the files were unsealed.
- The Private Plane: Emails from 2017 indicate Epstein provided his private jet for Jack Lang and his family to travel to Morocco, a “favor” that prosecutors say may constitute undeclared benefits.
A Legacy Under the Lens
Jack Lang’s name appears over 670 times in the unredacted Epstein files. The documents paint a picture of a veteran politician who, as late as 2019, was appealing to Epstein for philanthropic support and personal favors.
In a statement to AFP on Saturday, Lang described the investigation with characteristic bravado, claiming he welcomed the probe “with serenity and even relief.” He maintains that he was introduced to Epstein by filmmaker Woody Allen and viewed the financier merely as a “generous patron of the arts.”
“When I meet people, I don’t ask to see their criminal record,” Lang told RTL radio earlier this week, an excuse that has rung hollow with a French public increasingly weary of the “gilded immunity” enjoyed by its political elite.
The Domino Effect in Paris
The scandal has already claimed two high-profile resignations. Before Jack Lang’s exit on Saturday, his daughter Caroline stepped down from her role as head of the Independent Production Union (SPI), France’s largest film producers’ guild.
The political fallout is also hitting the Socialist Party (PS), Lang’s long-time home. Party leader Olivier Faure joined a chorus of voices from across the aisle—including the far-right’s Marion Maréchal—in demanding Lang’s departure to “protect the credibility” of French cultural diplomacy.
The Arab World Institute, a prestigious Left Bank landmark that receives half its €12 million budget from the French state, now faces an uncertain leadership vacuum as the Foreign Ministry moves to appoint an interim president.
As the PNF begins its deep dive into the Langs’ bank accounts and offshore dealings, the man who once famously said “culture is the soul of a nation” finds his own soul, and his legendary career, under the harshest scrutiny of the law. The “Fête” is over; the trial of public and judicial opinion has begun.