The 76-year-old had been in custody for over a year. As the newspaper “Le Parisien” reported, Brunel was found hanged in his cell. Brunel was suspected of contacting and organizing young girls for American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. As early as summer 2019, the public prosecutor’s office had initiated investigations against Brunel and searched his Paris model agency.
Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail in August 2019, was accused of abusing dozens of underage girls in the United States. He was accused of building a sex trafficking ring with accomplices. Epstein owned a luxury apartment in Paris near the Champs-Elysées. Brunel, who was one of Epstein’s close confidants, was arrested at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport in December 2020 as he was about to leave the country.
Most recently, a court in the United States found Epstein’s ex-partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, guilty at the end of December. As an aide to Epstein, Maxwell played a central role in building his ring for the sexual abuse of young girls, the jury in New York decided. The 60-year-old faces several decades in prison. The sentencing is scheduled for June 28th. Her lawyers have meanwhile requested a retrial of the trial.
Source: Nachrichten
