A former modeling agent known as āJeffery Epsteinās 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 āHis 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.
āA 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.
āThere 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.
āThere were no obvious fears for the prisonerās 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 ā who this week won a court settlement in her lawsuit against Prince Andrew alleging sexual misconductā as being a procurer for Epstein.
She said in 2019 that Epstein told her he had slept with āover a thousand women that Brunel brought in,ā according to NBC.
Giuffre testified in France against Brunel last year.
āI wanted Brunel to know that he no longer has the power over me, that I am a grown woman now and Iāve 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.
āIām urging more witnesses ā even if it is outside of the statute of limitations ā to come forward,ā Giuffre said. āThe judge is listening, the authorities are listening, Iām listening.ā
āWe want to help put this monster away where he belongs,ā she said. āWe canāt do that unless we all work together.ā
āWhether you are a witness of Jean-Luc Brunel at one place or another ā and it doesnāt 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 victimās story, corroborate,ā she said.
Brunelās lawyers issued a statement saying he was the casualty of unfair prosecution.
āHis 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. āHis decision was not guided by guilt, but by a deep sense of injustice.ā
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
