A modeling agent who was once just about disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein was once discovered lifeless Saturday in his French prison mobile, the place he was once being held in an investigation into the rape and intercourse trafficking of minors, in step with the Paris prosecutor’s place of work.
Paris police are investigating Jean-Luc Brunel’s demise on the historical L. a. Sante jail in Paris, the prosecutor’s place of work stated.
Sufferers of his alleged abuse described surprise and dismay that the 75-year-old, a well known style scout within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties who ran other businesses in Paris and New York, won’t ever face trial. They known as his demise as a double blow after Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a Big apple prison whilst waiting for sex-trafficking fees.
Brunel’s attorneys steered Saturday that he, too, killed himself. In a commentary, they described his “misery” at his incarceration and his repeated requests for a provisional unlock from the jail.
“Jean-Luc Brunel by no means stopped stating his innocence,” they stated. “His choice was once now not guided through guilt, however through a deep sentiment of injustice.”
The attorneys would now not additional touch upon what took place, and it was once unclear whether or not the prison had suicide prevention measures in position.
Brunel was once detained at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2020 as a part of a large French probe unleashed through the U.S. sex-trafficking fees in opposition to Epstein. A widespread better half of Epstein, Brunel was once regarded as central to the French investigation into alleged sexual exploitation of girls and women through the U.S. financier and his circle. Epstein traveled incessantly to France and had residences in Paris.
One in every of Epstein’s primary accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has alleged that Brunel procured ladies, a few of them minors, for intercourse with Epstein and different rich other people, luring them with guarantees of modeling paintings.
More than one ladies who known themselves as sufferers have spoken to police for the reason that French probe started in 2019, and now and then expressed frustration with the gradual tempo of the investigation.
One in every of them, Thysia Huisman, stated Saturday that the inside track of Brunel’s demise despatched her into “surprise.”
“It makes me offended, as a result of I’ve been preventing for years,” Huisman, a Dutch former style who advised police she was once drugged and raped through Brunel as a teenager, advised The Related Press. “For me, the tip of this was once to be in court docket. And now that entire finishing — which might assist shape closure — is taken clear of me.”
A legal professional representing Huisman and different sufferers, Anne-Claire Le Jeune, stated different ladies concerned within the case really feel the similar.
“Nice unhappiness, nice frustration that (the sufferers) gained’t get justice,” she advised The AP.
She expressed doubt that the investigation would result in a tribulation, as a result of Brunel was once so central to the case. She additionally voiced issues that Brunel’s demise way his accusers gained’t get any professional popularity in their standing as sufferers.
“To rebuild your self (after abuse), that is likely one of the very important steps,” Huisman stated.
She expressed hope that Brunel’s demise gained’t discourage ladies from proceeding to talk out about abuse. The investigation, at the side of a rising reckoning about sexual misconduct in France, has “freed up ladies to discuss it,” she stated. “It’s a hard step that calls for numerous braveness and power.”
Brunel was once named in U.S. court docket filings, too. The spokesperson for the prosecutors who charged Epstein in New York declined touch upon Brunel’s demise.
For Giuffre and different sufferers, the inside track of Brunel’s demise was once “devastating,” in accordance a commentary from her legal professional, Sigrid McCawley.
Guiffre herself tweeted: “The suicide of Jean-Luc Brunel, who abused me and numerous ladies and younger ladies, ends any other bankruptcy. I’m dissatisfied that I wasn’t in a position to stand him in a last trial to carry him responsible, however gratified that I used to be in a position to testify in particular person final yr to stay him in jail.”
McCawley stated Brunel’s demise didn’t finish the seek for justice.
“For the ladies who’ve stood up and known as for responsibility from legislation enforcement around the globe, it’s not how those males died, however how they lived, and the wear they brought about to such a lot of. The struggle to hunt fact and justice is going on,” McCawley stated.
Britain’s Prince Andrew lately agreed to settle a case through which Giuffre accused him of sexual abuse when she was once 17. Guiffre says she was once provided to Andrew through Epstein, fees that Andrew denies. The agreement, through which Andrew agreed to make a considerable donation to Giuffre’s charity, avoids a tribulation.