Luck appears to be running out for many of Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplices, with two wealthy associates of the late billionaire pedophile being arrested in the past week. On Monday, fashion mogul Peter Nygård was arrested for trafficking and a slew of other charges.
More recently, Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent who allegedly procured young girls for Epstien, was arrested in Paris this week while attempting to board a flight to Dakar in Senegal.
Victims believe that Brunel was on his way to Dakar because he was tipped off about the arrest, as Senegal doesn’t have an extradition treaty with France.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, Brunel was arrested for charges of rape, s*exual assault against minors, s*exual h*arassment, criminal conspiracy, and human t*rafficking.
Brunel has been in hiding since Epstein’s apparent death, and has been known as a close associate. Brunel’s name appeared more than 15 times on flight logs for Epstein’s private jet, and he visited Epstein close to 70 times when he was in prison the first time ten years ago.
Brunel founded the lucrative modeling agencies Karin Models and MC2 Model Management, and used his position in the industry to take advantage of young girls.
Modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel held for questioning in France as part of a probe into any role he may have played in luring girls for the Jeffrey Epstein https://t.co/Rr38EiooRk
— Bloomberg (@business) December 17, 2020
Thysia Huisman, one of Brunel’s victims, said that the arrest was entirely unexpected.
“It’s incredible. I didn’t expect it all. Brunel raped me in 1991. He drugged me and raped me and I never came forward as I was ashamed. After Epstein’s arrest I felt I had to come forward,” Huisman told The Daily Beast.
Huisman reported the incident but the statute of limitations had passed. 11 more women came forward after she went public with her accusations but they were also past the statute of limitations. Luckily, police were able to build a strong case against him during their investigation.
Huismann wrote a book called “Close Up” where she details many of her experiences, including her encounters with Epstein and Brunel.
“I met Epstein through Brunel. I stayed at Brunel’s place in Paris and at night there were parties with older business friends of his and young, very young models and one night he gave me a drink and said we had to celebrate the start of my career in Paris,” she said.
She said that there were drugs in the drink and that she was assaulted.
“I woke up the next day and the only thing I thought of was I had to escape his house and I took the first train out of Paris to Brussels and I never came back to Paris until last year when I went back to speak to the police and they took it really seriously,” she said.
Anne-Claire Lejeune, a lawyer representing several of Brunel’s alleged victims said that they have been waiting for this arrest for a long time.
“The victims have long awaited the arrest of Jean-Luc Brunel. They welcome this custody with relief, and confidence in the legal consequences that will be given. Their word finally takes on a meaning,” Lejeune said.
