On Saturday, a French model scout and alleged procurer of victims for wealthy sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Paris jail cell. Jean-Luc Brunel, 76, reportedly hanged himself while awaiting trial for raping underage girls—an end stunningly similar to his predator pal.
Thysia Huisman, who came forward to accuse Brunel of rape in 2019 and has pushed for his prosecution in France, told The Daily Beast she was “in shock” and “angry” that the criminal case she’s spent years fighting for was abruptly over.
“I had my mind set on the trial one day and that he would stand in front of the judge, that as victims we would have our moment in court,” the former model told The Daily Beast on Saturday. “This feels disappointing. It’s a different kind of ending, not at all a closure.”
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“I have mixed emotions,” Huisman continued. “I’ve been fighting for this for 2.5 years and all of a sudden: poof it’s gone.”
“In the end, what's most important is that he was in jail because we as victims came forward against him.”
"Former model Thysia Huisman, who is among women who have accused Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agent associated with disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein of rape, poses for a picture in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020.
Peter Dejong/APHuisman claims that Brunel drugged and raped her in 1991, when she was an 18-year-old model in Paris. She says she stayed silent for almost three decades because of her feelings of shame and guilt but contacted French police in September 2019, soon after Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan federal lockup.
Multiple other victims joined Huisman in reporting Brunel to police that year. “My case was past the statute of limitations but it felt good to be the first one to report him,” Huisman told us. “That sends the message that you're not staying silent anymore.”
But in another parallel to the Epstein case, Huisman says she's “suspicious” of Brunel's untimely end. Like Epstein, Brunel hanged himself in his cell before facing a jury for his alleged sex crimes.
“It sounds so suspicious,” Huisman told The Daily Beast. “I don't believe it, that he killed himself. It’s like what happened to Epstein. It’s too convenient.”
“Those guys, they’re not the suicidal type,” she added. “He was convinced he was going to get out, so why did he kill himself, you know?”
An investigation is underway into how Brunel died.
According to Huisman, Brunel's legal team was trying to get him out of jail because of his age but a judge denied his request.
“But for me he’s not the type who would kill himself,” Huisman said. “He was too arrogant, too full of himself. That’s my theory.”
Huisman is not alone in her doubts about how Brunel died.
On Twitter, a chorus of observers posted an eerily familiar line: “Brunel didn't kill himself.” Some suggested Brunel was “Epsteined.”
“Weird how this keeps happening!” one London-based editor Ash Sarkar tweeted.
“Jean-Luc Brunel has 'committed suicide.' He was accused of procuring young girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse,” wrote former British prosecutor Nazir Afzal. Friend of Ghislaine Maxwell & named by Virginia Guiffre as one of her abusers.”
“He was awaiting trial in France for sexually abuse. I’m no conspiracy theorist but..”
Social media users were quick to question why cameras did not capture Brunel's death. However, many French prison cells are not under video surveillance
While Huisman can't say for sure that Brunel didn't kill himself, she said, “It’s strange he was not on suicide watch and this could have happened in a jail cell.
“With Epstein it’s exactly the same story. I don't buy it.”
For years, Brunel was a key member of Epstein’s inner circle, routinely dropping into his homes in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands and a frequent flyer on Epstein's private jet.
At fellow Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal trial late last year, jurors saw a photo of Brunel and the British socialite with Epstein on a plane. Virginia Roberts Giuffre has claimed Brunel provided a steady stream of underage girls for the financier to abuse through his modeling agency MC2.
In a 2015 affidavit, Giuffre said Brunel offered girls “from poor countries or poor backgrounds” modeling jobs before sending them to Epstein to be sexually abused. “Jeffrey Epstein has told me that he has slept with over 1,000 of Brunel’s girls, and everything that I have seen confirms this claim,” Giuffre stated in the document.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741
