New Delhi, Feb. 10 -- France's former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.

He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s.

Lang, 86, was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his resignation.

He "is very sad and deeply hurt to be leaving a position he loves," his lawyer Laurent Merlet said Sunday on RTL radio. "He...