The founder of a modeling agency, believed by authorities to possess key information about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has now gone missing as law enforcement officials desperately search for his whereabouts.
“Jean-Luc Brunel, 72, has vanished as police seek to ask the Frenchman ‘urgent’ questions about the pedophile,” the Daily Mail reported. “Investigators are making inquiries in Brazil [and] the U.S., and European and French prosecutors are also pursuing claims relating to the financier, who died aged 66 before he could face the latest allegations.”
A reported source in Paris told the Daily Mirror that Brunel “is a ghost who has disappeared without a trace.”
“The agency boss was searching for new talent in Brazil until the start of this summer,” the Daily Mail added. “This month, French prosecutors have started a preliminary inquiry into whether Epstein sexually abused minors from France. They say Brunel is ‘uncontactable’ because he has no address, internet accounts or social media.”
Early last month, the focus shifted from Epstein, who allegedly committed suicide in prison, to British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been accused of helping arrange Epstein with underage girls.
Authorities believe that Epstein committed suicide on August 10 under a bizarre set of circumstances that have oftentimes exploded into conspiracy theories online.
The Daily Beast first reported in early July that Epstein was “arrested for allegedly sex trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005.”
Epstein was arrested after a federal judge ripped up a non-prosecution agreement that Epstein reached with federal officials in 2008, when he pled guilty to child prostitution charges and was given what many have said was the deal of a lifetime.
“Epstein shipped a shredder from the U.S. Virgin Islands to his Palm Beach home in July 2008, shortly after reaching a non-prosecution agreement with then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, maritime records show,” The Intercept reported this summer. “Then, in March of this year, shortly after a Florida federal judge invalidated that agreement, Epstein shipped a tile and carpet extractor from the Virgin Islands to his Manhattan townhouse, the records show.”