PARIS — Jean-Luc Brunel, a longtime associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein and owner of a modeling agency, was charged with rape and sexual harassment in France after being questioned in police custody, Le Parisien reported.
Authorities placed him in pre-trial custody after he was charged Friday by a Paris investigative magistrate, Le Parisien reported, citing unidentified sources. Brunel has been held for questioning since Wednesday as part of a probe opened last year after he was detained at the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to board a plane to Dakar.
In France, investigative judges can decide to charge companies or individuals in a procedure known as “mise en examen,” when there is “serious and consistent” evidence showing likely involvement in the matter under investigation. They can then decide whether to refer a case to trial, but aren’t involved after that stage.
Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt, a lawyer for Brunel, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
While the French investigation into those who may have helped Epstein lure underage girls into the late financier’s orbit will focus on possible crimes committed in France or involving French victims, U.S. authorities may also want to separately question or charge Brunel.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidante of Epstein, is in a New York jail awaiting a July 12 trial on sex-trafficking charges. She has pleaded not guilty to charges that she helped recruit girls for sex with Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019. The death was ruled a suicide.
The relationship between Brunel and Epstein is documented at least as far back as 2002, when flight logs place the Frenchman on the financier’s private plane on a flight from Florida to the Bahamas. Jail logs show Brunel visited Epstein while he was serving a 13-month sentence for procuring an underage girl for prostitution. Brunel also housed models in Epstein’s Manhattan apartments, according to a sworn deposition by a former company bookkeeper.
