Polish prosecutors investigate alleged human trafficking by Epstein-linked group

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish prosecutors have launched an investigation into possible human trafficking linked to the late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

They say that preliminary analysis of the US government’s recently released files on Epstein has led them to “reasonably suspect” that a group linked to him recruited girls and women in Poland for sexual exploitation between 2009 and 2019.

Poland will now send requests to two unnamed other European countries to provide further information and evidence related to the case, the National Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. In Poland, the crime of human trafficking carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

In January, the US Department of Justice released millions of pages of files on Epstein, who died in a US prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for charges of sex trafficking, including of underage girls.

The files shed new light on the scope of his crimes and ties with leading business and political figures across the globe, prompting some countries to launch investigations.

In February, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, announced the formation of a special group tasked with analysing the files to determine whether any aspects of Epstein’s activities related to Poland required investigation.

He said that this would include both checking whether any Polish girls or women were harmed by Epstein and investigating claims that Epstein was involved with or used by Russian intelligence.

Waldemar Żurek, Poland’s justice minister and prosecutor general, was tasked with heading that team, made up of prosecutors as well as representatives of Poland’s government, security services, the police and border guard.

Later in February, another team staffed only with prosecutors was established and launched a preliminary investigation to gather evidence on a group alleged to have recruited women in Poland for sexual exploitation under the pretence of modelling opportunities.

That early probe has now been upgraded to a “full evidence-based” investigation, the National Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday. Its next step will be to send requests to two European countries to provide more “information and evidence under a European Investigation Order (EIO),” it added.

The office’s spokesman, Przemysław Nowak, declined to name the two countries at a press conference on Wednesday, but Reuters reported a source close to the investigation indicating that they were France and Sweden. The latter country has also been mentioned by Polish news outlet Wirtualna Polska, though that has not been confirmed.

Nowak added that prosecutors would probe every aspect of the case within the scope of Polish jurisdiction, which includes crimes committed in Poland, as well as those perpetrated by Poles abroad and by foreigners against Poles who are outside of the country.

The files so far indicate that there were “at least a few” victims under that scope, Nowak said, but he added that prosecutors have not yet formally identified them for the purpose of questioning. He added that a potential suspect has been identified, even though no charges have yet been brought.

Material in the Epstein files has revealed that one of his associates, a Swedish national named Daniel Siad, wrote an email to Epstein in 2009 detailing plans to recruit women in Kraków, southern Poland.

“Human trafficking does not require kidnapping or the use of force. It can also involve deception, fraud and exploiting the victim’s dependency or vulnerability,” wrote Żurek in a tweet. He requested that anyone with information about the case contact prosecutors.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości (under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.