Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and close ally and alleged pimp of the deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, is trapped in Paris after attempting to board a flight to Dakar in Senegal. Paris prosecutors say he has been detained for rape, sexual assault of minors, sexual harassment, criminal conspiracy and human trafficking, said Le Parisien newspaper.
Brunel, who has been accused of rape and procuring young girls for Epstein in the US, has not been seen in a Manhattan prison since Epstein’s death in August 2019, but has been in France. In August Paris Match reported that he was last seen in public in July 2019 at a party at the Paris Country Club – a members-only luxury establishment outside the French capital. Brunel also reportedly planned to write a tell-all in hopes of exonerating himself, but the project was abandoned. He and his lawyer even approached a crisis communications expert at one point, but he declined the contract.
Brunel’s name appeared more than 15 times on flight logs for Epstein’s private jet, and he visited Epstein nearly 70 times when the financier was in prison in Florida for acquiring an underage girl for prostitution.
In message logs from Epstein’s Palm Beach home – where Brunel was a frequent guest, according to Epstein employees – the French agent left cryptic messages that appeared to refer to young girls. In one note, Brunel reported that he “just did a good one – 18 years,” telling him, “I love Jeffrey.” In another message to Epstein, Brunel emphasized that “he has a teacher for you to learn to speak Russian… She is 2×8 years old and not blonde. The classes are free and you can get the first one today when you call. “
“I had lost faith and I thought he is protected and nothing is going to happen, but in the end he is charged and they are really serious charges … I cried but they were tears of joy. “
– Thysia Huisman, a Dutch former model who accused Brunel of drugging and raping her
In August 2019, French prosecutors launched an investigation into Brunel, who founded Karin Models and MC2 Model Management, which led to Wednesday’s arrest.
“It’s unbelievable. I didn’t expect it all,” Thysia Huisman, a Dutch former model who accused Brunel of drugging and raping her when she was 18, told The Daily Beast. Huisman filed a complaint with the Daily Beast in September 2019. French police after Epstein’s arrest.
“Brunel raped me in 1991. He drugged and raped me, and I never came forward because I was ashamed,” she said. “After Epstein’s arrest, I felt I had to come forward.”
After Epstein was arrested and Brunel became a stakeholder, Huisman reported him, even though the case had passed. “But I reported it hoping that other women would come forward, and then 11 other women came forward, but they were all past the statute of limitations.”
Frustrated, Huisman went to the French authorities earlier this year. “I called the French police this year and asked why no one is working on it and why he’s walking around Paris like nothing is happening, but the police said you have to be patient, we’re trying to make a case that sticks, she said, adding that she felt Brunel had been tipped off and headed for Dakar because Senegal has no extradition treaty with France.
“I had lost faith and I thought he is being protected and nothing will happen, but in the end he is being charged and they are really serious charges,” she said. I cried, but they were tears of joy. Someone has to pinch me, it’s really overwhelming. We need to see what happens next. If there’s a trial, I’ll go there 100 percent, and if they need my testimony, of course I’ll testify. I have not come forward for nothing. “
Huismann’s book Detail view details meeting with Brunel in Paris when she was 18 and Brunel invited her to Paris. “I met Epstein through Brunel,” she said. “I stayed with Brunel in Paris and in the evenings there were parties with older business friends of his and young very young models and one night he gave me a drink and said we should celebrate the start of my career in Paris.”
Fifteen minutes later she said she knew something was wrong. “I started feeling really strange and fuzzy and nauseous and not myself and then he took me to his bedroom and I couldn’t even fight him and he raped me,” she told The Daily Beast. “I woke up the next day and all I thought about was escaping his house and I took the first train from Paris to Brussels and I didn’t get back to Paris until last year when I went back to deal with the police and they took it really seriously. “
Huismann spent four and a half hours telling the Paris police what had happened. “I had to go into all the details and relive it, which was really tough,” she said. “I’ve been trying to forget it all these years, but you have a lot of details in your memory, especially from that night.”
Lisa Bloom, who represents Epstein’s victims, told The Daily Beast that “one of the seven victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual assault that I represent in our lawsuit has claimed that Jean-Luc Brunel traded her to Epstein … took place in 2009, after Epstein’s criminal conviction. We are very pleased that Mr. Brunel is finally being brought to trial. “
Brunel said through a lawyer last year that he would answer questions about his relationship with Epstein. His attorneys denied that he was “on the run” and that he denies all charges of inappropriateness. The DOJ declined to comment officially on whether they were independently investigating Brunel in their ongoing investigation of Epstein and his associates in the US.
Attorney David Boies, whose firm has represented Epstein’s victims, noted, “Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t acting alone. Today’s arrest of Jean Luc Brunel is another important step in bringing the men and women who participated in Epstein’s international sex trafficking ring to justice. This could not have happened without the courage and dedication of Epstein’s survivors and the dedication of prosecutors around the world. “
Brunel has also denied any business relationship with Epstein, which was reportedly the silent “E” in MC2 (referring to the theory of relativity). But Brunel admitted in court documents that the wealthy sex offender granted him a $ 1 million line of credit to invest in a new business with Elite Models, registered at the address of Epstein’s New York investment company. The Justice Department declined to comment officially on Brunel’s arrest and the ongoing Epstein probe.
“The victims have been waiting a long time for the arrest of Jean-Luc Brunel,” said Anne-Claire Lejeune, a lawyer who represents several of Brunel’s alleged victims. “They welcome this detention with relief and confidence in the legal consequences that will be given. Their word finally takes on meaning. “
With reports from Erin Zaleski, Pilar Melendez and Spencer Ackerman.