Epstein's Hidden Paris: The Interior Designer, the Notaire, and the Mansion He Almost Bought

Jeffrey Epstein's apartment at 22 Avenue Foch in Paris's 16th arrondissement was an 18-room residence on one of the most expensive streets in the world, situated in a neighborhood otherwise populated by foreign embassies and the homes of heads of state. It was not a place that ran itself.

To keep the apartment operational across two decades, Epstein employed a small team of French professionals whose names appear in thousands of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice. Despite their extensive presence in the files, almost none of them have been named in media coverage of the Epstein affair. Together, their correspondence reveals an unreported side of Epstein's Paris life: salary disputes conducted in French, tax avoidance schemes routed through Brazil, luxury real estate shopping in Le Marais, and a property management operation that functioned smoothly even after Epstein's 2008 conviction.

The Interior Designer: 1,215 Documents, Zero Headlines

Jean Huguen is a Paris interior designer who operated from 10 bis rue du Pré aux Clercs, a quiet Left Bank address in the 7th arrondissement. He appears in 1,215 documents and 43 emails in the released Epstein files. By document count alone, that places him above many figures who have generated international headlines since the files were released.

His primary contact in Epstein's orbit was Lesley Groff, the executive assistant who coordinated all property logistics for Epstein's global portfolio. Jmail records show Huguen corresponding about the Avenue Foch property, and his sustained presence across years of files indicates ongoing design and renovation work rather than a single contract.

Huguen registered a company called "Jean Huguen Interior Design Consultant" in Tourouvre au Perche, Normandy, in December 2022. As of March 2026, his name has not appeared in any English or French media reporting on the Epstein case.

He is not the only designer in Epstein's orbit. Alberto Pinto and Linda Pinto, the celebrated French interior design siblings, handled Epstein's New York mansion. Alberto appears in 1,357 documents and Linda in 1,432. One email from Linda to Epstein reads: "Since your last meeting in Paris and the meeting on site I have had no news from you... if you intend to go ahead with the interior design work because Florence is..." The sentence trails off in the OCR, but the meaning is clear. There was always more work to be done on Epstein's properties.

The Notaire: Closing the HSBC Account

Marie-Joseph Experton served as Epstein's legal representative in Paris. A notaire listed in the Chambre de Paris directory, she appears in 287 documents and 16 emails in the files, and was listed in Epstein's black book.

Her most significant role, as reported by Bloomberg in 2025, involved the closure of Epstein's HSBC France account in January 2008 after the bank flagged suspicious activity. Experton coordinated with Darren Indyke, Epstein's New York attorney, to manage the fallout. The HSBC closure is notable because it occurred in the same period Epstein was negotiating his Florida plea deal, suggesting that European banks were beginning to recognize the risk before American prosecutors had fully acted.

An OCR snippet from the files shows Experton emailing about "AVENUE FOCH 75116 PARIS," with Epstein replying "ok, but is there a new person?" The exchange suggests she was involved in managing property staffing as well as legal affairs.

The Property Manager: Salary in French, Taxes in Brazil

The third member of the team was Valdson Vieira Cotrin, a Brazilian national who managed Epstein's Avenue Foch apartment for 18 years. Unlike Huguen and Experton, Cotrin has been named in some reporting, but the content of his correspondence has not been examined in detail.

A June 2018 email chain (EFTA01038741) reveals a salary dispute conducted in French between Cotrin, Epstein's financial manager Bella Klein, and Epstein himself. Cotrin wrote to Klein: "Je me suis renseigné. C'est pas possible de faire le transfert sur mon compte au brésil. Il a une taxe de 15%. Je peux pas prendre le risque pour toujours! D'autre part je besoin de mon salaire en France."

He had done the math. Routing his salary through Brazil would cost him 15 percent in taxes. He wanted to be paid in France.

Klein's proposed solution was to call the payment a loan. "It will be 30,000 Euros and 7,200 Euros (food). May 2018 to May 2019. And it will be a LOAN, no taxes," she wrote. The word "LOAN" was capitalized in the original.

Cotrin pushed back, writing that his 13-month supplementary salary was worth 37,340 euros, and that transfers could not exceed 5,000 euros per month. "Je comprend pas votre calcul?" he wrote. I don't understand your calculation.

Epstein's response bypassed the dispute entirely. "Tell him to ignore Bella," he wrote. "I will bring with me." The implication was cash.

The Mansion in Le Marais

While Epstein already controlled the Avenue Foch apartment, the files reveal he was interested in acquiring additional Paris property through his French social network.

On November 18, 2013, Caroline Lang emailed Epstein about a property owned by her friend Sophie Dusmenil (EFTA01944366):

"You remember my friend Sophie Dusmenil, she is the lady who organized in her apartment my sister's birthday. Her husband bought almost 2 years ago in le Marais 'l'hôtel des Ambassadeurs.' It is one of the most beautiful hôtel particulier in Paris with original paintings on the ceilings. The Dumenil's bought, they wanted to renovate it and I think make a few luxury apartments. They have changed their mind and want to sell it. Are you interested? Would you like to visit it?"

Epstein replied: "Yes please."

The Hôtel des Ambassadeurs is a 17th-century mansion in the Marais district, one of Paris's most historically significant buildings. Caroline Lang was not merely socializing with Epstein. She was acting as a real estate intermediary, connecting him to off-market luxury properties through her personal network.

The following day, she organized a private viewing of an exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo, writing: "We shall all meet on Thursday at 10.30 am in front of the Palais de Tokyo to see the Parreno exhibition. It will be opened only for us." She then asked if Epstein was available afterward to visit the mansion.

The email was copied to Jack Lang, her father, the former Minister of Culture. Whether Epstein ultimately purchased the property is not established in the available documents.

What the Files Show

The picture that emerges from these documents is not one of a man who visited Paris occasionally. It is one of a permanent operation. Epstein had a notaire to manage his legal affairs and bank accounts. He had an interior designer on retainer for years of renovation work. He had a property manager whose salary structure was designed to minimize French tax exposure. And he had Caroline Lang feeding him off-market real estate opportunities in the most desirable neighborhoods in the city.

This operation continued without interruption after Epstein's 2008 conviction. It continued after the 2015 filing of the Giuffre lawsuit. It was still running in June 2018, when Cotrin was negotiating the terms of his Brazilian tax avoidance, and in early 2019, when Epstein flew to Paris for the last time.

One hundred and eighty flights connected Epstein's aircraft to French airports between 1996 and 2019. Le Bourget, the private aviation terminal in northern Paris, was the most frequent international destination in his flight logs. During those years, the apartment at 22 Avenue Foch was not a pied-à-terre. It was an outpost, maintained at full readiness by people whose names fill the files but whose stories remain untold.

Source Documents

• EFTA01038741: Email chain between Valdson Cotrin, Bella Klein, and Jeffrey Epstein regarding salary payments, tax routing through Brazil, and proposed "LOAN" structure. June 8-9, 2018.
• EFTA01944366: Caroline Lang to Jeffrey Epstein regarding Hôtel des Ambassadeurs in Le Marais. November 18, 2013.
• EFTA01946220: Caroline Lang to Jeffrey Epstein regarding private Palais de Tokyo exhibition and Hôtel des Ambassadeurs visit. November 19, 2013.
• EFTA01949049: Epstein reply: "Yes for hotel." November 19, 2013.
• EFTA00986257: Marie-Joseph Experton email regarding "AVENUE FOCH 75116 PARIS" property staffing.

Profiles for Jean Huguen, Marie-Joseph Experton, and Caroline Lang are available in the Epstein Exposed database. The Avenue Foch property is documented at /locations/paris-apartment.