A French child protection group stepped up pressure for prosecutors to open an investigation into the activities in France of Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier found dead in an apparent suicide while being held on sex-trafficking charges.

The Innocence en Danger group said in a statement today it had written to the Paris public prosecutor to urge France to open an investigation into Epstein.

Yesterday, Marlene Schiappa (photo, above), France's gender equality minister, had demanded an investigation into Epstein's affairs in France.

Epstein was arrested on July 6 in New Jersey after his private jet landed on a flight from Paris.

He was registered as having a Paris address on Avenue Foch, one of the capital's most exclusive addresses in the 16th district which sweeps down from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees area onto the Bois de Boulogne.

Epstein was found dead on Saturday, having apparently hanged himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan. The 66-year-old had pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of girls as young as 14.

- Reuters