Jean-Luc Brunel: the Jeffrey Epstein trafficking suspect found dead

The former boss of a French model agency accused of rape and under investigation on suspicion of supplying underage girls for abuse by the late Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in prison in Paris.

The body of Jean-Luc Brunel was “found hanging in his cell in the early hours of Saturday”, The Guardian reported. His death has been confirmed by the French prosecutor’s office, which said “an inquiry had been opened into the exact cause of death, but early indications pointed to suicide”.

Brunel, 75, was arrested in December 2020 while attempting to board a flight from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to Dakar in Senegal. He was first “put under investigation on allegations of the alleged rape of a minor and sexual harassment”, the paper said, before being questioned “on suspicion of the human trafficking of underage girls”.

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‘Le Fantôme’

Born in 1946 in Paris, Brunel began his career as a modelling scout for Karin Models in the French capital. He later became head of the agency, before founding Next Management Corporation alongside his brother Arnaud in 1988.

In 1989, the Brunel brothers and Faith Kates formed the global modelling agency Next Management Company. In April 1996 Brunel split off from Next Management Company, resulting in Next Management Company suing the Brunel brothers later that year.

Brunel, who was nicknamed Le Fantôme (the phantom), met Ghislaine Maxwell in the 1980s and was introduced to Epstein. According to the Daily Beast, the billionaire provided him with one million dollars to fund the launch of the modelling agency MC2.

Prior to his arrest two years ago, “several top models had come forward to accuse [Brunel] of sexual assault and rape”, The Guardian reported. “French police had reportedly interviewed hundreds of potential witnesses” in connection with the alleged crimes.

“Brunel had denied any wrongdoing or any involvement in illegal activities”, but had “disappeared from public life shortly after Epstein’s death in August 2019”.

He was “alleged to be a central figure in Epstein’s sex abuse ring”, The Times said, with allegations suggesting that he used MC2 “to recruit girls for sexual abuse, steering them to orgies at his homes in Florida and New York”.

A former bookkeeper at the agency told the Daily Beast that the agency “arranged visas for girls travelling to the US from Eastern Europe, adding “that MC2 girls became frequent guests on Epstein’s private jets”.

Described by the Daily Mail as Epstein’s “pimp”, Brunel had become “the target of a wider investigation” looking into “Epstein’s associates in France”.

Echoes of Epstein

Brunel’s death appears to have been in similar circumstances to Epstein’s suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in August 2019. Brunel was being held in Paris’s Santé prison at the time of his death.

He had been released on bail last November but had been ordered to return to prison after a few days to await trial. Following his death, his legal team said in a statement that “his distress was that of a man of 75 years old caught up in a media-legal system that we should be questioning”.

“Jean-Luc Brunel never stopped claiming his innocence and had made many efforts to prove it. His decision [to end his life] was not driven by guilt but by a deep sense of injustice.”

According to The Sun, he was able to take his own life “despite six prison patrols who were supposed to be looking after vulnerable inmates”. However, he ”was not on suicide watch at the time and did not have any cameras in his cell”.

In a death that “echoes that of Epstein”, Brunel reportedly “found a time window between the patrols and managed to hang himself – escaping justice following accusations of trafficking and rape”, the paper added.

The Daily Mail said that his death in prison will “fuel conspiracy theories around the Epstein affair” given that “video cameras at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center were not running at the time Epstein died in 2019”.

Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Epstein who agreed to a multimillion-pound out-of-court settlement with Prince Andrew last week, stated in a 2015 affidavit that Epstein boasted of sleeping “with over 1,000 of Brunel’s girls”.

She responded to the news of his death in a statement that said: “The suicide of Jean-Luc Brunel, who abused me and countless girls and women, ends another chapter. I am disappointed that I was not able to face him in a final trial.”

Ian Maxwell, whose sister Ghislaine is being held in isolation at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, told the New York Post: “It’s really shocking. Another death by hanging in a high-security prison. My reaction is one of total shock and bewilderment.”

He continued that he “fears for her safety” following Brunel’s apparent suicide, warning: “Despite the psychiatrist advising to the contrary, she was deemed a suicide risk and they are continuing to wake her up every 15 minutes in the night.

“It’s a complete violation of prisoner rights and human rights.”