Jean-Luc Brunel was found hanged
Former French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a close associate of the late American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, was found hanged in his cell at Paris’ Santé prison on Friday night, the local prosecutor’s office said.
The Public Ministry confirmed the death of Jean-Luc Brunel and announced the opening of an investigation into the cause of death.
Accused of rape by several models, which he contested, Jean-Luc Brunel was charged in late June 2021 with “rape of a minor over the age of 15”. The septuagenarian had already been indicted in December 2020 for “rape of a minor over 15 years old” and “sexual harassment”.
Brunel had also been placed on intermediate status as an assisted witness for the facts of “aggravated human trafficking to the detriment of underage victims for the purpose of sexual exploitation”.
His death means the end of public action in this case, unless other people are implicated.
Jean-Luc Brunel’s name was mentioned in a US investigation into the sex scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein, who was also found dead in his cell in August 2019.
Jean-Luc Brunel was detained in December 2020 at Paris airport as he was about to fly to Dakar and was arrested following the charge.
Last November, he was released under judicial supervision for a few days, to return shortly after by decision of the Court of Appeal in Paris. Brunel had appealed against this decision.
American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein was accused in July 2019, in the United States, of having organized a network of sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls, a network that operated between 2002 and 2005.
The Parisian public prosecutor, alerted by the potential existence of French minors among Epstein’s victims, opened a preliminary investigation in August 2019.
Two months later, a complaint was filed against Jean-Luc Brunel for “sexual harassment” that he had not prescribed, unlike several other charges against him.
Source: With Agencies