According to the prosecutor’s office, Brunel was found hanged. Virginia Giuffre, who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual offenses, said Brunel passed on women and underage girls to rich people.
French model boss Jean-Luc Brunel died Saturday at La Sante prison in Paris, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
According to an agency spokesman, Brunel was found hanging from his cell. Paris police have launched an investigation into Brunel’s death.
Brunel, 76, was an American businessman in pre-trial detention Jeffrey Epstein in connection with a sexual offense. According to the prosecutor’s office, an investigation was underway into Brunel’s involvement in the rape and smuggling of minors.
Jeffrey Epstein, who is awaiting trial, died in unclear circumstances in a prison in New York in 2019. He is said to have hanged himself.
Brunel’s lawyers issued a statement on Saturday that suggested the man had killed himself. According to the statement, Brunel had been very stressed and had asked for his release several times.
– Jean-Luc Brunel never stopped declaring her innocent. His decision was not due to guilt, but to a deep sense of injustice, lawyers said.
Brunel’s lawyers did not comment in detail on what had happened in La Sante prison. It is unclear whether precautions were in place in the prison to prevent inmates from harming themselves.
Epstein and Brunel are involved in the same design office
Brunel was arrested in December 2020 at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in connection with a French investigation that had originated from Epstein’s sexual offense charges in the United States.
Brunel and Epstein repeatedly enjoyed themselves together. Epstein traveled frequently to France and had apartments in Paris.
Brunel started his career in the fashion industry as a model finder, He co-founded the Karin Models modeling agency. He later moved to the United States, where he co-founded the MC2 modeling agency, funded by Epstein.
Brunel was identified by French authorities as a key figure in an investigation into suspected sexual exploitation of women and girls by Epstein and those close to him.
The victim was shocked by Brunel’s death
Accused Epstein of sexual offenses Virginia Giuffre said Brunel passed on women and underage girls to Epstein and other rich people. According to Giuffre, Brunel attracted victims with promises of modeling.
Several women who have reported themselves have spoken to French police since the criminal investigation began in 2019.
One of them is a former Dutch model Thysia Huisman, who told police he had been drugged and raped by Brunel as a teenager. Huisman told the news agency AP that he was shocked by Brunel’s death.
– It makes me angry because I’ve been fighting for years. For me, the case had to end in court. Now it’s taken from me, Huisman told AP.
Lawyer representing Huisman and other victims Anne-Claire Le Jeune Brunel expressed doubts that the investigation of the coil would not necessarily lead to litigation because Brunel was so central to the case.
According to Le Jeune, women prosecuting Brunel would not receive official recognition as victims.
According to Huisman, gaining recognition would be an essential step in recovering from exploitation.
Prince and social celebrity involved in the skein
Virginia Giuffre agreed this week with the British prince Andrewin a substantial sum of money in the case. According to Giuffre, Andrew had sexually abused him in 2001. Giuffre was 17 at the time.
Giuffre said Epstein mated him to Andrew and several other celebrities such as politicians and businessmen. Prince Andrew has denied the charge and no criminal charges have been filed against him.
In December, a friend of Epstein and Prince Andrew´, a social worker Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in the United States of several sexual offenses. Maxwell denied his guilt.
The court found that Maxwell, among other things, had cared for the girls to Epstein. Maxwell was found guilty of, among other things, trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation.