Jean-Luc Brunel

Jean-Luc Didier Henri René Brunel (, 18 September 1946 – 19 February 2022) was a French model scout and alleged sex trafficker. He gained prominence by leading the international modelling agency Karin Models, and founded MC2 Model Management with financing by Jeffrey Epstein. The subject of a 60 Minutes investigation in 1988, Brunel faced allegations of procuring prostitution and sexual assault spanning three decades.

Brunel came under scrutiny for his ties to Epstein, with whom he worked from the early 2000s to 2015 after Ghislaine Maxwell had introduced them. He was accused by Virginia Giuffre of grooming girls including herself and of taking part in an alleged sex trafficking operation involving Epstein, but denied involvement in any illegal activities with Epstein.

Following Epstein's death in 2019, Brunel went into hiding. Before his trial could proceed, Brunel died by suicide at La Santé Prison on 19 February 2022.

In the 2026 release of the Epstein files, Brunel was listed in a 2019 document as one of the people "the FBI once called co-conspirators" of Epstein. French authorities announced they were reexamining his case in February 2026. He had one brother, Arnaud, One of his parents was a real estate executive. By 1978, he was running the company. The following year, together with Faith Kates, they formed the Next Model Management Company, a global modeling agency. Next Model Management sued the Brunel brothers in 1996.

Brunel claimed to have discovered a number of models who rose to prominence, including Christy Turlington and Sharon Stone. Building on these early successes, he founded Karin Models of America in 1995. After Brunel was included in a BBC One MacIntyre Undercover report on abuse within the fashion industry in November 1999, he was banned from his modeling agency in Europe. The Daily Beast reported that he relied on funding from his brother Arnaud and their business partner, Étienne des Roys. According to an accounting firm, MC2 lost an estimated $49 million between 2006 to 2015. MC2 was dissolved in Miami on 27 September 2019, In 2019, it was reported that Brunel sold off some of the MC2 assets to help create The Identity Models in New York City and 1Mother Agency in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alleged sexual abuse and sex trafficking 1988 60 Minutes episode In 1988, Brunel was the subject of a seven-month investigation by CBS producer Craig Pyes and reporter Diane Sawyer for 60 Minutes. The investigative segment, "American Models in Paris", which aired in December 1988, covered the conduct of Brunel and fellow Parisian modeling agent Claude Haddad. Several American models who worked with Brunel told 60 Minutes that he fostered a culture in which the models were routinely drugged and sexually abused.

Eileen Ford (of the New York-based Ford Modeling Agency), who had sent her models to Brunel for assignments in Paris, told 60 Minutes that she had not known that models complained of sexual exploitation and drug abuse by Brunel. that Brunel had offered her drugs and propositioned her for sex in 1991 when she was sent by her modeling agency to live with him in Paris at age 17.”

Dutch former model Thysia Huisman Huisman left Paris within a week of arriving to work with Brunel and did not return to the city until November 2019 when she met with the magistrates investigating him.

In August 2019, the Guardian published an article citing three former models who told the newspaper that Brunel had sexually assaulted them in and around Paris in the 1980s and 1990s. A photographer working for Brunel at Karin Models around that time referred to Brunel as "a vile pig". One of the models, Courtney Soerensen, who featured in the 1988 60 Minutes episode, alleged that as a 19 year old model, Brunel had sexually assaulted her.

CBS reported in October 2019 that a Canadian former model made a sworn statement to French police accusing Brunel of drugging her drink and raping her in 1987.

In 2022, Soerensen further alleged that Brunel had also "pimped" her out to friends, including Jeffrey Epstein, who assaulted her. Giuffre claimed in a 2015 affidavit that Epstein bragged to her that he had "slept with over 1,000 of Brunel's girls". Brunel denied involvement in any illegal activities with Epstein: "I strongly deny having committed any illicit act or any wrongdoing in the course of my work as a scouter or model agencies manager."

In a sworn statement from 2010, Brunel's former bookkeeper for Karin Models and MC2, Maritza Vasquez, said that Brunel housed models in Epstein's condos at 301 E. 66th St. in New York City. He also alleged that Epstein had obstructed justice by directing Brunel to avoid having his deposition taken in the criminal case against Epstein by the Palm Beach Police Department. The lawsuit was later settled under undisclosed terms. According to victims rights attorney Bradley Edwards, Brunel met in person and talked for hours with J. Stanley Pottinger at the Boies Schiller Flexner office in New York on May 2, 2016. In her memoir Nobody's Girl, Giuffre said she was raped and abused by Brunel on many occasions as a minor.

In 2022, Courtney Soerensen, who had previously made allegations about Brunel in 2019,

Initial police investigation After Epstein's arrest on 6 July 2019, Brunel disappeared. He was last seen in public on 5 July 2019 at a party at the Paris Country Club.

On 23 August 2019, two weeks after Epstein's death, the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into rape and sexual assault of minors as well as criminal conspiracy in connection with the Epstein case, aiming "to uncover any offenses committed not only on national territory, but also abroad against French victims or perpetrators of French nationality." Among them was Thysia Huisman, who came forward to report Brunel for spiking her drink and raping her in Paris in 1991 when she had just turned 18.

The prosecutor's announcement of the investigation named Brunel and referred to testimony given by a complainant in the US as well as to statements by two complainants in France. Two complainants stated that Brunel acted as a recruiter for Epstein, luring young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to the United States with the prospect of modeling jobs.

Custody and Indictment On 16 December 2020, Brunel was intercepted by police at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, at the assistance of Matan Uziel, as he was about to board a flight to Dakar, Senegal. He was held in custody at La Santé Prison for questioning in relation to rape, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy, and human trafficking, with all of the allegations involving minors. Brunel was held in custody for 14 months while awaiting trial on charges of rape of minors and sexual harassment.

Epstein Files release and second police investigation In the 2026 release of the Epstein files, Brunel was listed in a 2019 document as one of the people "the FBI once called co-conspirators" of Epstein. Brunel had made several suicide attempts before his death. An inquiry into his death concluded in March 2023 that he had died by suicide, with a prosecutor stating that, according to psychiatric experts, the suicide was a reaction to his indictment and incarceration, and that no criminal offence could be established. In a November 2022 report, an expert said Brunel was at a high risk for suicide following several acts of self-harm while in detention and was in a depressive state at the time of his death. No foul play was suspected in his death.

Personal life Brunel was married to Helen Hogberg, a Swedish model. Brunel and Hogberg moved to Ibiza where Brunel and several partners opened a bar and restaurant called El Mono Desnudo (The Naked Monkey). He was reportedly forced to leave the island on short notice. Hogberg divorced Brunel in 1979. In 1988, he married his girlfriend of two years, American model Roberta Chirko, the day before the 60 Minutes program aired. They also later divorced.