His victims hoped so: Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agent suspected of playing the role of tout for American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein who died in 2019, was indicted Friday evening and remanded in custody, announced the Paris prosecutor’s office, Saturday, December 19.
In a press release, the public prosecutor specifies that Mr. Brunel was “Charged with the counts of rape of minors over 15 years of age and sexual harassment and placed under the status of witness assisted by the count of human trafficking aggravated to the prejudice of underage victims for the purposes of sexual exploitation. He was also remanded in custody. The investigations will continue within the framework of the judicial information entrusted to three investigating judges ”.
“This is what the victims have been waiting for for many years, some for more than thirty years”, reacted Me Anne-Claire Le Jeune, the lawyer who defends several plaintiffs in this case. “This indictment materializes the words of the victims and gives meaning to what they have said all these years”, she added.
Arrested as he was about to fly to Dakar
Wanted by French justice, the septuagenarian was preparing to fly to Dakar when he was arrested by the border police at Charles-de-Gaulle airport. He had been placed in police custody as part of an investigation for rape and sexual assault, in particular against minors, sexual harassment, criminal conspiracy and trafficking in human beings, confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Disappeared from radars for years – with the exception of an appearance at an upscale party in Levallois-Perret in July 2019 – Mr. Brunel was accused in the United States by at least two women of having played the role of reel for Jeffrey Epstein, bringing to the United States ” Girls “ came from modest backgrounds, giving them the hope of working in modeling.
Billionaire financier and friend of the powerful, Mr. Epstein was indicted in July 2019 for having organized, between 2002 and 2005, a network of young girls whom he allegedly sexually exploited. He committed suicide in his New York prison on August 10, 2019.
Alerted by the potential existence of French minors among the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, owner of an apartment on avenue Foch, in Paris, the Paris prosecutor’s office had opened an investigation in August 2019 for “rape” and “sexual assault” and was interested in the role of Mr. Brunel, founder of the agencies Karin Models and MC2 Model Management.
With the impact of the Epstein scandal, several former models came out of the silence to directly accuse Mr. Brunel of rape and welcomed his arrest. “This is huge news. I cry with joy ”, reacted one of them, the Dutch Thysia Huisman. “Eleven women testified against him after me, but all these facts are prescribed. I hope the police have other files with more recent victims ”, she added.
Complaint for acts of “sexual harassment” not prescribed
A complaint had indeed been filed in October 2019 against Mr. Brunel for acts of “sexual harassment” which were not prescribed. Through the voice of his lawyer, Jean-Luc Brunel said to himself “At the disposal of justice” and had disputed the charges against him.
Mr. Brunel’s name has appeared since the mid-2000s in files concerning Mr. Epstein. Disturbing messages had been found by the Florida police, including this one, noted in 2005 after a phone call from “Jean-Luc” : “He has a teacher for you, to teach you how to speak Russian. She is 2 x 8 years old, not blonde. “
Virginia Giuffre, one of the main complainants in the Epstein case, also claimed to have been forced to have sex with Mr. Brunel.
In 2015, then in cold blood with Epstein, Mr. Brunel had announced actions in France and the United States to denounce these “Allegations” but none of these procedures have prospered. The suicide in prison of Jeffrey Epstein, in early August 2019, had brought his name back to the fore.
The investigation opened in August 2019 in France and entrusted to the Central Office for the Repression of Personal Violence has given rise to a call for witnesses and several hundred hearings, but many of the accusations relate to prescribed facts, according to reports. corroborating sources. “A considerable investigation has already been carried out” in this case, according to a judicial source.
Another figure in the world of models has recently appeared in the viewfinder of justice: the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation at the end of September against Gérald Marie, the former European boss of the famous Elite agency, after accusations of rape brought by four women.
