Jean-Luc Brunel Biography – Jean-Luc Brunel Wiki
Modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was arrested in France Wednesday, accused of acting as an accomplice for Jeffrey Epstein and supplying him with underage girls for sexual exploitation.
Brunel, 74, was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport before boarding a flight to Dakar, Senegal, on December 16, 2020. Prosecutors in Paris told reporters that they were interrogated within the scope of the “rapes, sexual assaults” investigation opened last year. According to The Guardian report, rape and sexual assault of a young 15-year-old child, rape and sexual assault of a child over 15, sexual harassment, relationship with criminals, and trafficking and abuse of minors. The Associated Press reported that as of December 17, 2020, it was not formally charged.
Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan prison cell in August 2019. She awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was considered “apparently suicide”. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, is imprisoned in New York on charges of acting as an accomplice to Epstein. He denied the allegations.
Thysia Huisman was a former Dutch model and one of many women who accused Brunel of sexual harassment in interviews with French researchers. “Tears of joy” she cried when she learned of her arrest, the Associated Press reported. Huisman told investigators that Brunel gave her drugs and raped her in 1991 at the age of 18. She hoped that talking to investigators would encourage others to stand out, although she believed that Brunel’s legal liability was out of time.
“Looks like he’s not going out,” Huisman said. “That’s great. Absolutely. Tears of joy.”
Huisman was one of about 12 people to be questioned in the French investigation that started in August 2019. Eight of those who met with the police were victims, and four said they witnessed.
“What great news,” Huisman told the Associated Press while learning about the arrest. “The best Christmas gift ever.”
Epstein funded Brunel’s modeling agency MC2 Model Management with a $ 1 million loan years before it was accused of sexually harassing minors. The Miami Herald reported that in December 2019, the modeling agency’s yellow sign appeared in the second-floor window on Lincoln Road, although the business had been locked for two years and the flow of promising models stopped.
The Daily Beast reported in October 2019 that Brunel was in the process of selling its assets at the time. A source told the post that the MC2’s New York office sold its assets to The Identity Models in 2017, and the Miami location is in the process of transferring the assets to The Source Models, which is managed by two MC2 executives. MC2 had a third place in Tel Aviv.
At the time of writing, Brunel’s office in Paris had been searched by police weeks ago. The investigation against Brunel was opened about two months ago and occurred while Epstein’s body was hanging in a New York prison cell.
Virginia Giuffre accused Brunel of providing victims of sexual harassment for Epstein, saying Epstein had allegedly had sex with more than 1,000 “Brunel’s daughters”. Giuffre became one of the most outspoken women to say that she was abused by Epstein. She also founded NGO, Victims Reject Silence and advocate for victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking.
“Jeffrey Epstein told me that Brunel slept with 1,000 daughters, and everything I see confirms this claim,” said the Daily News in a court file in 2015.
He said that many of them do not speak English and are struggling with drugs or anticipation of a future in modeling.
“In my understanding, Brunel was persuaded to come and offer them a career in illegal drugs or modeling. Brunel was one of the main buyers of the girls,” he said.
Brunel’s lawyers did not immediately testify to news organizations after his arrest. However, in previous interviews, she denied any involvement in illegal activities she denied. The Guardian said in December 2019 it was available to inform the police in their investigation.
The Miami Herald cited a press release that denied Brunel’s claims made in 2015. The newspaper reported in 2019 that this was the only press release at that time.
The statement said, “I absolutely refuse to participate, directly or indirectly, in the actions against which Mr. Jeffrey Epstein was accused.” “I absolutely deny that I have committed any illegal act or anything wrong while working as a scout or exemplary agency manager.”
In 2015, he filed a lawsuit against Epstein, saying MC2’s relationship with Epstein made the modeling agency “almost worthless”, the Daily Beast reported.
“MC2 was worth millions of dollars; now, due to Epstein’s illegal actions, MC2 is almost worthless,” the lawsuit said.
Brunel became the head of Karin Models in 1978, and expanded the offices of the Paris-based modeling agency to Miami Beach and New York in 1995, the Miami Herald reported. He also became minority partner at Next in the 1990s.
“He claimed he had an uncanny eye for photogenic 14-year-olds — and that he discovered models Christy Turlington, Jerry Hall, Rebecca Romijn and Milla Jovovich — although other agents take credit, too,” the Miami Herald reported. “He spent recent years recruiting girls in the former Soviet Republics and at schoolyards and volleyball courts in farming towns in the southernmost state of Brazil, home of supermodels Gisele Bündchen and Alessandra Ambrosio, whose fame turned the area into a hot spot for scouts.”
Brunel was banned from Karin Models in Europe in 1999 following a BBC investigation into abuse in the industry, The Guardian reported. This prompted his move to the United States and the launch of MC2.
