By Tyler Durden

Stop us if you’ve seen this one before…

Alternatively described as Jeffrey Epstein’s “best mate” and “pimp”, Jean-Luc Brunel, a former French modeling agent who has been imprisoned since 2020 on charges he aided Epstein’s sex-trafficking enterprise, has committed suicide in his cell, according to French newspapers Le Monde and Le Parisian.

He was found hanged in his prison cell at La Santé in Paris just a week after Prince Andrew reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein trafficking victim whom Brunel was also alleged to have abused.

Brunel, 76, had been indicted and imprisoned in December 2020 after being denied bail following accusations of rape and sexual assault of minors. including three 12-year-old sisters. He also faced investigation over human trafficking and being part of a criminal conspiracy amid his association with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Specifically, he is alleged to have flown the three sisters to America from Paris so they could be a “birthday present” for Epstein. He is known to have taken at least 25 trips on Epstein’s private plane, “the Lolita Express”. When Epstein was locked up in 2008, he was a regular visitor to his jail in Florida.

Media reports have repeatedly described Brunel as a key member of Epstein’s inner circle. However, now that he is gone, it’s believed he will take many secrets to his grave. His old pal Epstein was also found “hanged” in his cell in Manhattan pending trial back in 2019. In that case, the guards who were supposed to be watching him later struck a plea deal to avoid jail time.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into Brunel’s cause of death.

The French fashion agent was originally detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he was about to fly to Senegal.

Brunel denied involvement “directly or indirectly” in any of Epstein’s alleged crimes in a statement he issued in 2015. It read: “I strongly deny having committed any illicit act or any wrongdoing in the course of my work.”

But Giuffre alleged that Brunel “farmed out” modelling hopefuls to the pedophile, as well as other men, for sex. She also claimed she was once forced to have sex with Brunel at Epstein’s home. She also alleged that Brunel once set up a photo-shoot with seven Russian girls which Prince Andrew watched.

She later claimed in an affidavit that Epstein had slept with “over 1,000” of Brunel’s girls.

In 2019, French cops raided the offices of Karin Models, an agency founded by Brunel. They received evidence from several of his former victims who waived their anonymity to speak out.

New Zealander Zoe Brock has claimed in statements made to French investigators that she was abused in his Paris home in the early 1990s. Meanwhile, Dutch model Thysia Huisman, who was 18 when she first stayed with Brunel, said she was raped by him in 1991.

Brunel’s former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell (who allegedly introduced him to Epstein), was found guilty in the US back in December. Her sentencing has been tentatively set for June.

Of course, the jokes practically write themselves..