Disgraced Jean-Luc Brunel shares a joke with Epstein, Maxwell
Disgraced model boss Jean-Luc Brunel – charged with rape and accused of trafficking minors – shares a joke with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell as she unbuttons her blouse in photos taken on Lolita Express jet
- French ex model boss Jean-Luc Brunel was pictured joking with Epstein, Maxwell
- Brunel seen on the Lolita Express jet in a yellow jumper, Paisley jogging bottoms
- Prosecution said the photos showed the pair had a ‘close relationship over time’
- Brunel has been charged with rape, sexual assault and the trafficking of minors
- Like Maxwell, Brunel denies any wrongdoing and has pledged to clear his name
Photographed on the ‘Lolita Express’, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, this is disgraced French former model boss Jean-Luc Brunel, sharing a joke with the financier and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
As Ghislaine Maxwell appears to partially unbutton her blouse in front of the two men, Epstein chuckles and Brunel, dressed in a yellow jumper and flamboyant Paisley jogging bottoms, feigns shock as he turns away.
The newly-disclosed image of Brunel, now 75, has emerged in the New York court where Maxwell, 59, is on trial for transporting minors to Epstein, the late billionaire financier.
Lara Pomerantz, for the prosecution in Maxwell’s trial in New York, said that photographs including the one of Brunel on the plane, were found on a hard drive during a raid at Epstein’s house in New York in 2019.
Ms Pomerantz said they pointed towards a ‘close relationship over time’, and suggested that Maxwell and Epstein were ‘partners in crime’.
Epstein and Maxwell are seen on board the Lolita Express with French modeling scout Jean-Luc Brunel. Brunel came under scrutiny for his close ties to Epstein and was arrested in 2020, charged with rape of minors by French prosecutors
Jean-Luc Brunel play-wrestles with Ghislaine Maxwell at Jeffrey Epstein’s home on the private island of Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands
Judicial police in Paris today indicated that the photograph – part of a bundle of prosecution evidence in the USA – will ‘assist with their case against Brunel’ too.
An investigating source in the French capital said: ‘It points to an intimate working relationship between suspects who were said to be running a sex ring together.’
Twice-divorced Brunel, the former boss of agencies including Karin Models, was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris a year ago as he tried to board a flight to Dakar, Senegal.
He was then placed on remand after being charged with rape, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy, and the trafficking of minors.
Like Maxwell, Brunel denies any wrongdoing and has pledged to clear his name.
But according to claims from numerous alleged victims, Brunel, 75, performed the same role for Epstein which Maxwell has been accused of in New York – scouting and supplying under-age sex victims for the billionaire.
Numerous women have made allegations against him, including Prince Andrew’s accuser, Virginia Guiffre.
The striking photos were submitted into evidence in Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial and show the British socialite massaging Epstein’s feet on the Lolita Express
The pictures of Ghislaine Maxwell massaging Epstein’s feet were taken on his private plane where he is believed to have shuttled underage girls and high-powered figures
Ms Guiffre, now 38 – has told French police that Brunel committed multiple alleged attacks on her. She is also suing Prince Andrew, 61, in a US civil court for sexual assault. He is vigorously contesting the damages claim.
It follows alleges from numerous women that Brunel abused them while running an ‘underage sex ring’ for Epstein, who committed suicide in a New York prison in 2019.
The fashion agent was arrested in Paris a year ago following accusations of rape, sexual assault of minors and human trafficking.
Like Prince Andrew, Brunel has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, with his lawyers saying he was being subjected ‘to a media lynching.’
Last November, Ms Giuffre responded to an online English language appeal by French magistrates for alleged victims of Brunel to come forward.
She said she was raped by Brunel in the early 2000s – around the time that she is said to have had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17.
The ‘multiple rapes’ of Virginia Giuffre – now a mother of three formerly called Virginia Roberts– were said to have mainly taken place at Epstein’s home on the private island of Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands.
According to French law, a French citizen such as Brunel can be tried in France for alleged offences committed abroad.
Brunel was last seen in public at the Paris Country Club on 5 July 2019. Following
Epstein’s death in August 2019, the French National Police launched an investigation into him and prosecutors first heard allegations that Brunel and Prince Andrew had both assaulted Ms Guiffre.
In September 2019, Brunel’s Paris home and offices were raided as part of an investigation into sex trafficking by Epstein.
Last December, Brunel was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was leaving for Senegal, West Africa.
Ms Guiffre, now 38 – has told French police that Brunel committed multiple alleged attacks on her. She is also suing Prince Andrew, 61, (pictured together in 2001) for sexual assault
The ‘multiple rapes’ of Virginia Giuffre – now a mother of three formerly called Virginia Roberts– were said to have mainly taken place at Epstein’s home on the private island of Little Saint James, (pictured) in the US Virgin Islands
He was held in relation to rape, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy and human trafficking – all allegations involving minors.
After several months remanded in custody he was formally indicted in September 2021 on a single count of rape.
The indictment stems from an allegation that Brunel drugged a seventeen-year-old model at a nightclub and raped her in the 1990s. Brunel protested his innocence.
The latest complainant has not been named for legal reasons, but she is now in her 40s and believed to be living in the USA.
She told examining magistrates that Brunel raped her at her Paris home after a night out at a nightclub, where she believes that a drug was placed in her drinks.
Virginia Giuffre said she was forced to sleep with the Duke of York after being trafficked to him at least three times when she was 17.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied the accusations levelled by Giuffre, telling the BBC in 2019: ‘I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever.’
Prince Andrew has consistently denied the accusations levelled by Giuffre, telling the BBC in 2019 (pictured): ‘I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever’
Giuffre has told the French she was routinely raped by Brunel between the ages of 16 and 19.
Brunel, who has worked with celebrities including Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci, is also suspected of using his contacts in the fashion industry to provide victims to Epstein and his friends.
Court documents unsealed in 2019 alleged Brunel flew 12-year-old sisters from a Paris housing estate to America as ‘a birthday present’ for Epstein.
Brunel’s lawyers, Marianne Abgrall and Mathias Chichportich, previously issued a statement saying: ‘Our client has always firmly asserted that he has never abused any woman.
‘This accusation, which arises almost twenty years later and without the slightest proof, is a new illustration of the media-judicial lynching suffered by Jean-Luc Brunel since the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein.’
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