Epstein ally found dead in French prison: prosecutors

Epstein, arrested in July 2019 on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex, was found hanged in his New York jail cell the following month while awaiting trial over abuses against under-age women.He was briefly freed in late 2021 but then re-incarcerated on a Paris court of appeal ruling.The source said he had been found hanged, but this was not confirmed by prosecutors.Brunel's death means his case is closed, unless other suspects are implicated in the same case in the future.Brunel had denied the charges. He was first detained in December 2020 at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport."His tragedy is that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system," they said in a statement.Allegations from women who say they were abused in France in the Epstein case prompted French prosecutors to open their own investigation.Anne-Claire Le Jeune, lawyer for the plaintiffs, expressed "frustration and bitterness over not being able to obtain justice, just as for the victims of Epstein". She added that the victims had the feeling Brunel was "leaving behind a number of secrets".Brunel began his career as a model scout and in 1978 was involved in setting up the prestigious Karin Models agency. In US court documents, Virginia Giuffre, a key plaintiff against Epstein, accused him of using her as a "sex slave" and said she had been forced to have sex with well-known politicians and businessmen, including Brunel. Giuffre on Saturday responded to news of Brunel's death on Twitter."I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to face him in a final trial to hold him accountable, but gratified that I was able to testify in person last year to keep him in prison."Giuffre has said she had sex with Andrew when she was 17 and a minor under US law, after meeting him through Epstein.In December, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a friend of Epstein and Prince Andrew, was convicted in the United States of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein....

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February 20, 2022 at 12:32AM
Epstein, arrested in July 2019 on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex, was found hanged in his New York jail cell the following month while awaiting trial over abuses against under-age women.He was briefly freed in late 2021 but then re-incarcerated on a Paris court of appeal ruling.The source said he had been found hanged, but this was not confirmed by prosecutors.Brunel's death means his case is closed, unless other suspects are implicated in the same case in the future.Brunel had denied the charges. He was first detained in December 2020 at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport."His tragedy is that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system," they said in a statement.Allegations from women who say they were abused in France in the Epstein case prompted French prosecutors to open their own investigation.Anne-Claire Le Jeune, lawyer for the plaintiffs, expressed "frustration and bitterness over not being able to obtain justice, just as for the victims of Epstein". She added that the victims had the feeling Brunel was "leaving behind a number of secrets".Brunel began his career as a model scout and in 1978 was involved in setting up the prestigious Karin Models agency. In US court documents, Virginia Giuffre, a key plaintiff against Epstein, accused him of using her as a "sex slave" and said she had been forced to have sex with well-known politicians and businessmen, including Brunel. Giuffre on Saturday responded to news of Brunel's death on Twitter."I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to face him in a final trial to hold him accountable, but gratified that I was able to testify in person last year to keep him in prison."Giuffre has said she had sex with Andrew when she was 17 and a minor under US law, after meeting him through Epstein.In December, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a friend of Epstein and Prince Andrew, was convicted in the United States of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein....