Epstein’s Friend in Paris

Why Did the Modeling Industry Not Protect Its Teen Models After ‘Bombshell’ Expose of Sexual Abuse?

Wanted: Looking for beautiful American teenagers seeking an exciting, well-paid career as a model in Paris. Must be willing to grant sexual favors in exchange for work.

This wasn’t a real ad for the French modeling agency Karin Models, but for many women who passed through its doors, it might as well have been.

More than 30 years before arrest of financier Jeffrey Epstein for alleged sex trafficking of dozens of minors, Karin Models founder Jean Luc Brunel was accused of everything from groping to drugging and raping teenage models at his agency. Brunel went on to develop a close relationship with Epstein, for whose “pipeline” Brunel was an alleged procurer of young and underage girls, according to a recent story in the Washington Post.

In a 1988 expose aired on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” young American models came forward to accuse two leading Paris model agency heads, including Brunel, of sexual harassment and abuse. They also reported that Brunel pressured them to attend dinner parties with his wealthy male friends and to have sex with them — charges later echoed in the book Model and in court documents.