Quote:Jeffrey Epstein's pimp Jean-Luc Brunel dies in prison 'suicide': Frenchman who procured 'a thousand women'Daily Mail:
for pedophile financier and slept with Virginia Roberts 'hangs himself' - a week after Prince Andrew settlement
*Jean-Luc Brunel, 76, was found hanging in his cell in La Santé, Paris, at 1am during a night time check in
*The fashion agent was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in December 2020 while trying to fly to Senegal
*He was suspected of being a member of infamous financier Jeffrey Epstein's global underage sex ring
*Death in an alleged hanging will fuel conspiracy theories around the Epstein affair after he also died in prison
*Brunel is thought to have been alone in the cell and there were no cameras to record his final hours
'Jeffrey Epstein's French modelling agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel, who allegedly procured more than a thousand women
and girls for the paedophile financier to sleep with, died today in an alleged prison suicide.
It comes days after Prince Andrew, 62, agreed to settle Virginia Roberts's lawsuit accusing him of sex abuse after they
met allegedly through Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Roberts accused Brunel, 76, of procuring more than a thousand
women and girls for Epstein to sleep with and he was awaiting trial in France for raping minors.
His 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. Controversy over Epstein's death has been fueled by the
fact that prison video cameras at Manhattan's Metropolitan Correction Center were not running at the time Epstein died in
the cell he shared with another inmate.
Prosecutors in Paris confirmed Brunel, who is not believed to have been on suicide watch, was found hanging in his cell in
La Santé, in the south of the capital city, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Brunel with Maxwell, Thysia Huisman and Brunel with models he scouted.
Brunel is thought to have been alone at the time of his death and there were no cameras to record his final hours, according
to an investigating source at La Santé – one of the toughest jails in France. 'A night patrol found his lifeless body at about 1am,'
said an investigating source. 'A judicial enquiry has been launched, and early evidence points to suicide.'
It was in December 2020 that Brunel was indicted after two days of interviews by an examining magistrate and specialist police
from an anti-paedophilia unit. He was arrested at the city's Charles de Gaulle airport on while trying to board a plane to Dakar,
Senegal, telling detectives 'I'm going on holiday'.
While CCTV is commonplace in the corridors and gateways of French prisons, the vast majority of cells are not under video
surveillance. This is ensure a degree of privacy, and to make sure that European human rights legislation is not violated.
Inmates are sometimes known to record events using devices including mobile phones, but Brunel is thought to have been
in a single occupancy cell, said the source.
'There 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,' he said. The source added: 'There 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.'
The official enquiry into Brunel's sudden death was on Saturday being carried out by offices from the 3rd Judicial Police district
in Paris. An autopsy was set to be carried out, to establish the exact cause of death. Forensic officers were meanwhile examining
the cell where Brunel died. La Santé, which was built in the 19th Century, has housed some of the most dangerous prisoners in
recent French history.
There is a so-called 'VIP section' where inmates include 'super terrorist' and mass killer Carlos the Jackal, whose real name is
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez.
Brunel was originally indicted and placed in pre-trial detention in December 2020 for the 'rape of a minor over 15 years old' and
harassing two other women. He was also suspected of being a 'pimp' for Epstein, after becoming a close friend of the billionaire
financier. Brunel had been placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness for acts of 'human trafficking' and 'exploiting
minors for the sexual purposes.'
Brunel committed suicide because he was 'crushed' by the allegations against him, his defence lawyers said in a joint statement.
'His distress was that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system which it should be time to question,' said Mathias
Chichportich, Marianne Abgrall and Christophe Ingrain. 'Jean-Luc Brunel has continued to proclaim his innocence. He multiplied
his efforts to prove it. His decision [to end his life] was not driven by guilt, but by a deep sense of injustice.'
A Dutch model, Thysia Huisman, who was 18 when she first stayed with Brunel, said she was raped by him in 1991.
She is now one of at least four alleged victims represented by Anne-Claire Le Jeune, a Paris barrister, who said Brunel being in
custody was a huge relief, because their complaints now 'take on meaning,' she said.
After news of Brunel's death broke Ms Huidman said she felt disappointed by the 'completely different ending without any real
justice for his victims. Brunel was suspected of having been part of a global underage sex ring organised by the late American
multi-billionaire Epstein, who committed suicide in 2019, while awaiting trial for numerous sex crimes.
Others involved in the ring include Epstein's ex-girlfriend, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, who is currently in prison
in the USA after being found guilty of sex trafficking...'
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