According to the public prosecutor, Jean-Luc Brunel was arrested on Wednesday at Charles de Gaulle airport.
He was detained for “counts of rape and sexual assault, rape and sexual assault of a minor under 15, rape and assault of a minor over the age of 15, sexual harassment, criminal associations and human trafficking against child victims for the purposes of sexual exploitation, ”the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Brunel’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Paris probe was launched on August 23, 2019 and focuses on “acts of a sexual nature likely committed by Jeffrey Epstein and possible accomplices,” the prosecution said.
In 2019, US federal prosecutors alleged that Epstein ran a sex trafficking business in his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida between 2002 and 2005. The indictment also said Epstein worked with workers and employees to lure the girls into his homes and paid some of his victims to recruit other girls he could abuse.
Epstein died on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial in federal prison.
In July of this year, Ghislaine Maxwell was accused by New York federal prosecutors of assisting in the recruitment, grooming, and ultimately sexually assaulting of minors as young as 14 years old as part of a sex trafficking ring allegedly run by Epstein.
She pleaded not guilty to the charges.