Former French modeling agent linked to Epstein scandal found dead in his cell

The former French model agent Jean-Luc Brunel was found dead this Saturday in the cell of the Parisian prison of La Santé where he had been since the end of 2020, accused of several cases of rape of minors.

The man who reached the highest levels of the world of fashion and presented himself as the discoverer of top models such as Jerry Hall, Christi Turlington or Milla Jovovich, had fallen into disgrace since his association with the American millionaire and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, to who allegedly sent several young French women as a sexual “gift”.

In a sinister twist, Brunel appears to have met the same fate as the American, who committed suicide in his New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial for child sex trafficking and conspiracy.

The Paris prosecutor's office has confirmed press reports according to which Brunel, 75, was found last morning hanged in his cell - just like Epstein almost three years earlier - and has announced an investigation to clarify the "causes of the death." death” of the former model agent.

Brunel's body was discovered around one in the morning during one of the night patrols by the security guards, who were unable to do anything to revive him, adds

, citing prison sources.

The news is known in the same week in which the multimillion-dollar out-of-court agreement reached by Prince Andrew of England and another of Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre, to settle the lawsuit that this 38-year-old woman filed against the Duke of York, whom she accused of having raped her when she was a minor.

Giuffre had also accused Brunel of having forced her to have sexual relations since she was 16 years old and, in a court statement in 2015, assured that the Frenchman, founder of the Mc2 modeling agency, was one of those in charge of sending Epstein teenagers to his house and organizing his orgies.

“He was bringing young people (ages 12 to 24) to the United States for sexual purposes and to “rent” them to her friends, including Epstein,” he stated.

In August 2019, the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation against Epstein, who owned a luxurious home in the French capital, after learning that the millionaire pederast had also allegedly abused French minors.

The echo of that news caused, recalls the

(AFP), that several former models broke their silence and also accused Brunel of rape.

Two months later, the first lawsuit was filed against the former French agent, who always strongly denied the charges.

However, Brunel had been charged since the end of 2020 for several cases of rape of a minor over 15 years of age and sexual harassment.

In addition, he was investigated for "aggravated human trafficking" because the victims were "minor" and produced "for the purpose of sexual exploitation."

Since then, Brunel, who was arrested at the Paris airport at the end of 2020, when he was preparing to travel to Dakar, had remained imprisoned, except for a short release at the end of 2021, when he returned to prison "in undignified conditions". , according to his lawyers.

For these, the decision to end his life "was not guided by guilt, but by a deep feeling of injustice."

Unless the investigations end with new accusations, Brunel's death closes the judicial path for his victims, says

.

One of the lawyers of the women who accused him, Anne-Claire Le Jeune, has evoked the "frustration and bitterness" of these after learning of the death of the former agent, since with this they are prevented from "obtaining justice, just like the victims of Epstein”.

Now, AFP has stated, "we will not get answers about some things."