Main content
Search
Footer

International — Link

Sexual harassment suit filed against Epstein associate in France

The French friend and business associate of the late, disgraced US billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, French model agency manager Jean-Luc Brunel, who is accused in American court documents of rape and of obtaining young women for Epstein, is cited in a new complaint in France for sexual harassment.

La rédaction de Mediapart

18 October 2019 à 03h23

This article is freely available.

To support Mediapart subscribe

A French modelling agent suspected of procuring young women for the disgraced US billionaire Jeffrey Epstein has been formally accused of sexual harassment, French judicial sources said Thursday, reports FRANCE 24.

Confirming the complaint against Jean-Luc Brunel, one source told AFP that the Paris prosecutor's office had received a letter of complaint "involving actions defined as sexual harassment".
Officers leading the investigation into Epstein's activities in France will soon question the woman who filed the complaint, the source added.
Brunel, founder of Karin Models and MC2 Model Management, is accused in American court documents of rape and of obtaining young women for Epstein, who was found hanged in his New York jail cell on August 10th while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking.
In court documents, alleged victim Virginia Giuffre said she was forced by Epstein to sleep with several well-known politicians and businessmen, including Brunel.
In France, several former top models have come forward with allegations of rape against Brunel.
But according to a source close to the investigation, those alleged crimes date too far back to be prosecuted.
The sexual harassment complaint, by contrast, concerns an incident that took place after 2015, meaning Brunel could still be charged.

Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.

La rédaction de Mediapart

Comment

Managing cookies

We use cookies on our website, and similar technology on our mobile apps, which allow us to collect data about your device and usage of the site. Some of these are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our services and cannot be switched off.

Others are optional, and their collection of your data can be either authorised or refused by you. Please note that these both enhance your experience as a reader of our website and contribute to its performance, and that Mediapart does not sell any data about its website users to third parties.

Do you consent to Mediapart’s use of cookies or similar technology in order to enhance the services it provides ?

The cookies and similar technologies we use on Mediapart are of different natures and allow us to pursue different purposes.

Some are necessary for the functioning of the site and the mobile application (you cannot refuse them). Others are optional but help to facilitate your experience as a reader and in some way support Mediapart. You can refuse or accept them below, depending on their purpose.

Do you agree that Mediapart uses cookies or similar technologies for the following purposes ?

You can make your choice, for each category, by enabling or disabling the switch button.

Mandatory for the operation
of the site or application

Subscriber login, anonymized audience measurement, sending of push notifications, tracking of failures, highlighting of our services these tools are necessary to track the activity of our services and their proper functioning.

Here are the various cookies and similar technologies included in this category :

Authentication cookies : subscriber login.
AT Internet : anonymized audience measurement
Display of multimedia editorial content : videos (YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, INA), social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter), documents (Scribd, Document Cloud, Slideshare), sounds (SoundCloud, Spotify, Deezer), maps (Google Maps, Mapbox, CartoDB, uMap), infographics (Highcharts, GitHub, Datawrapper, Flourish, Infogram, ThingLink, jQuery, Google Fonts, Bootstrap), live blogs (24liveblog, CoverItLive), media integration support in Journal and Club publications (Embedly).
Typeform : optional questionnaires to collect readers opinions on our digital products.
Datadog (only on the website) : technical indicators and load balancing.
Selligent (only on the website) : communication with the subscriber, highlighting of services, offers and benefits.
Batch (only on the app) : sending push notifications and in-app messages.
Firebase Cloud Messaging (only on app) : required for push notifications to work on Android.
Microsoft App Center (only on app) : app update and failure tracking system.

Statistics

These tools allow us to collect statistics on site and mobile application traffic to understand usage, detect possible problems and optimize the ergonomics of our products.

Advertising retargeting

There is no advertising on Mediapart. But we do promote our content and services on other sites and social networks. For this, we use technologies made available by some advertising companies.

Content Access Management

We use the Qiota service from Opper Marketing Suite to configure the activation of a datawall on certain content (available only on the website). This system, intended for non-subscribed users, requires the input of an email address to access the relevant content. By providing this information, the user consents to its collection, storage, and use for statistical purposes. In accordance with the applicable regulations, users have the right to access, rectify, and delete their data, which they can exercise by contacting dpo@opper.io.