Jean-Luc Brunel: Model agent with links to Jeffrey Epstein found dead in cell
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Jean-Luc Brunel, 74, was discovered hanging at La Santé jail in Paris in the early hours of yesterday morning.
“A night patrol found his lifeless body at about 1am,” said an investigating source.
“A judicial enquiry has been launched, and early evidence points to suicide.”
In December 2020 Brunel was indicted after two days of interviews by an anti-paedophilia unit.
He was arrested while trying to board a plane to Dakar, Senegal, telling detectives, “I’m going on holiday.”
Brunel was suspected of having been part of a global underage sex ring organised by American billionaire Epstein, who committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for numerous sex crimes.
The model agency boss’s lawyers said yesterday: “His distress was that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system which it should be time to question.
“Jean-Luc Brunel has continued to proclaim his innocence. He multiplied his efforts to prove it. His decision [to end his life] was not driven by guilt, but by a deep sense of injustice.”
Brunel is thought to have been alone at the time of his death and there were no cameras to record his final hours.
While CCTV is commonplace in the corridors of French prisons, most cells are not under video surveillance.
This is to ensure a degree of privacy and to comply with European human rights legislation.
The source added: “There were no obvious fears for the prisoner’s health, and he was not on a suicide watch, having already been in prison for many months.”
Forensic officers were examining the cell and an autopsy was due.
La Santé was built in the 19th century and has housed some of the most dangerous prisoners in recent French history.
There is a so-called “VIP section”, where inmates include “super-terrorist” and mass killer Carlos the Jackal, real name Ilich Ramírez Sánchez.
Brunel was originally indicted and placed in pre-trial detention for the “rape of a minor over 15-years-old” and harassing two other women.
He was also suspected of being a pimp for Epstein after becoming a close friend.
Brunel had been placed under assisted witness status for acts of “human trafficking” and “exploiting minors for sexual purposes”.
A French judicial enquiry into Brunel’s conduct was opened inAugust 2019. Virginia Giuffre, who has settled with Prince Andrew, also said she had “sexual relations with Brunel on several occasions” between the ages of 16 and 19, according to legal papers.
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Both Prince Andrew and Brunel respectively denied these claims.
The rape of a minor is punishable by up to 15 years jail in France, while aggravated sexual harassment comes with a three-year sentence and a fine of around £40,000.
Brunel, who denied any wrongdoing, was also suspected of using his contacts in the fashion industry to provide victims to Epstein. Brunel is said to have flown three sisters from a Paris housing estate to America so they could be abused by Epstein as “a birthday present”.
Among Epstein’s alleged victims, it is claimed in court documents, were 12-year old triplets from Paris.
Brunel was the founder of model agency MC2, which prosecutors believe was used a cover for Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
The Frenchman started his career as a model scout and has worked with celebrities including Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci.
New Zealander Zoe Brock is among former models who waived their anonymity.
She claimed in statements made to French investigators that she was abused in his Paris home in the early 1990s.
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was recently convicted for her role in Epstein’s ring and is awaiting sentencing.
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