France detains modelling agent in Jeffrey Epstein inquiry
Thu 17 Dec 2020 10.33 EST
First published on Thu 17 Dec 2020 09.54 EST
France detains modelling agent in Jeffrey Epstein inquiry | France | The Guardian
French police are questioning the boss of a modelling agency suspected of supplying underage girls to the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Jean-Luc Brunel, 74, was arrested by police at Charles de Gaulle airport before boarding a plane to Dakar on Wednesday, French officials said.
Paris prosecutors told journalists Brunel was being quizzed as part of an investigation opened last year into the alleged rape and sexual assault of minors, sexual harassment, and human trafficking of underage girls for sexual exploitation.
Agence France-Presse reported Brunel's lawyer had not responded to requests for a comment.
The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed that that Brunel was detained on 16 December as part of an investigation into "rapes, sexual assaults, the rape and sexual assault of a minor aged 15, the rape and sexual assault of a minor over 15 years, sexual harassment, association with criminals and the trafficking and exploitation of minors".
Prosecutors said the arrest was part of an investigation opened on 23 August 2019 by the Paris prosecutor's office centred on possible "events of a sexual nature thought to have been committed by Jeffrey Epstein and other accomplices".....