A former modeling agent known as ā€œJeffery Epstein’s pimpā€ was found dead in a French prison where he was being held on rape charges.

Officials said Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, Ā was found dead Feb. 19 after apparently hanging himself overnight, according to a translated report in the French-language LeMonde.

A report in the Daily Mail noted that ā€œHis death in an alleged hanging will fuel conspiracy theories around the Epstein affair after the financier also died in prison while awaiting trial in what authorities concluded was a hanging.ā€

Brunel was indicted on rape charges in December 2020 and again in September 2021. His death will end any police investigation into those cases, as well as his potential links with Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking at the time of his death.

The Daily Mail recounted the events as told by a source it did not name.

ā€œA night patrol found his lifeless body at about 1 a.m. A judicial inquiry has been launched, and early evidence points to suicide,ā€ the source said.

ā€œThere is an investigation going on to confirm all this, but at the moment it looks like he killed himself alone, and it was a routine patrol that found his body hanging,ā€ the source said, noting that Brunel was not considered a suicide threat and was kept in a part of the prison where there are no video cameras.

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ā€œThere were no obvious fears for the prisoner’s health, and he was not on a suicide watch, having already been in prison for many months,ā€ the source said.

Brunel was accused by Virginia Roberts Giuffre — who this week won a court settlement in her lawsuit against Prince Andrew alleging sexual misconduct– as being a procurer for Epstein.


She said in 2019 that Epstein told her he had slept with ā€œover a thousand women that Brunel brought in,ā€ according to NBC.

Giuffre testified in France against Brunel last year.

ā€œI wanted Brunel to know that he no longer has the power over me, that I am a grown woman now and I’ve decided to hold him accountable for what he did to me and so many others,ā€ Giuffre said after her testimony behind closed doors.

At the time, she called for others to testify against Brunel.

ā€œI’m urging more witnesses — even if it is outside of the statute of limitations — to come forward,ā€ Giuffre said. ā€œThe judge is listening, the authorities are listening, I’m listening.ā€

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ā€œWe want to help put this monster away where he belongs,ā€ she said. ā€œWe can’t do that unless we all work together.ā€

ā€œWhether you are a witness of Jean-Luc Brunel at one place or another — and it doesn’t even have to be him doing something illegal, it can just be placing him somewhere, and by doing so it can help place together another victim’s story, corroborate,ā€ she said.

Brunel’s lawyers issued a statement saying he was the casualty of unfair prosecution.

ā€œHis distress was that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system that it is time to question. Jean-Luc Brunel has constantly claimed his innocence. He multiplied his efforts to prove it,ā€ his lawyers, Mathias Chichportich, Marianne Abgrall, and Christophe Ingrain said in a statement. ā€œHis decision was not guided by guilt, but by a deep sense of injustice.ā€

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.