PARIS (Reuters) – The Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel, co-founder of a modeling agency and close to the American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, now deceased, was found dead in custody, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
Indicted on counts of rape of a minor and sexual harassment, Jean-Luc Brunel, aged 76, had been placed in pre-trial detention since December 2020.
He was found hanged in his cell in the Paris prison of Health around 1 a.m., a spokesman for the prosecution told Reuters, adding that an investigation was underway.
Jean-Luc Brunel was notably suspected of having organized the transport and accommodation of young women on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier accused of trafficking and abuse of minors who committed suicide in August 2019 in his cell.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, with the contribution of Juliette Jabkhiro)