Who was Jean-Luc Brunel? Jeffrey Epstein’s disgraced fashion mogul friend named in new filings

Fresh accusations against Jean-Luc Brunel, the late Parisian model agent alleged to have arranged depraved gifts for Jeffrey Epstein, have resurfaced in newly unsealed documents relating to the disgraced financier.

Brunel, who was said to have trafficked dozens of women and girls to Epstein, died by suicide at the La Santé prison in the French capital last year. He was found dead in a prison cell while awaiting trial on charges of raping a minor.

The 76-year-old – once nicknamed the king of the catwalk – was there after being arrested in December 2020 following claims by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre that he used her as a sex slave while she was still a minor. The suicide came days after Ms Giuffre agreed a multi-million out-of-court settlement over her allegations of sexual abuse by Prince Andrew – claims he has always strongly denied.

It brought an end to the life of a man some have suggested was even more debased than his American billionaire friend. Brunel is said to have systematically raped girls and women over three decades.

His vast riches made him so apparently untouchable that frustrated French detectives trying to nail him had labelled him “the ghost”.

Who was Jean-Luc Brunel?

Paris-born Brunel was a model talent scout who rose to be boss of the Karin Models agency in the 1970s. He is credited with helping turn the business into a fashion powerhouse, while discovering several supermodels including Christy Turlington and Milla Jovovich.

So renowned did his reputation become for making stars that young women, the model Desiree Gruber reportedly said in 1988, “starved themselves [to] parade for Jean-Luc Brunel”.

Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci were among the famous faces who had worked with him.

He met Ghislaine Maxwell in the 1980s. Maxwell, in turn, introduced him to her then-partner, Epstein.

The pair, court documents suggest, bonded over a shared love of the high life and an interest in underage girls.

They appear to have come to an agreement that, while Brunel travelled the fashion globe, he would scour each city for girls he could groom for Epstein.

Not even the fact that Brunel was kicked out of the agency in 1999 – following a BBC report into abuse in the industry – could deter the pair. They simply set up a new business, MC2 Model Management, and continued in the same vein.

Soon after Epstein’s death in July 2019, however, a French judicial inquiry into Brunel’s conduct was opened. Evidence gathered led to a warrant for his arrest – which was executed as he attempted to flee to Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Previous allegations against Brunel

Dozens of models had accused Brunel of rape and sexual harassment by the time of his death. In one claim made in US court documents, it is said that MC2 was little more than a front for trafficking teenagers and young women.

Jerome Bonnouvrier, the celebrated French modelling impresario who died in 2009, is said to have told one journalist: “Jean-Luc is…a danger.”

Yet almost all of the accusations came later – meaning they fell outside the 20-year limit for prosecuting sex crimes in France. Brunel – who was twice married and twice divorced – always denied any wrong-doing but, even if he had not, he could not have been prosecuted.

That was until Ms Giuffre came forward in 2019. Responding to a new English-language plea for any victims of Brunel to come forward, she told authorities

Xural.com