A former Canadian model has stepped forward to reveal details about the night she said Jeffrey Epstein’s modeling agent friend allegedly raped her.
The former model said that she knew Jean-Luc Brunel, 74 – the founder of Karin Models and MC2 Model Management – from working in the modeling industry.
The woman, who did not reveal her identity, told CBS News that Brunel sexually assaulted her in 1987 after they had been out clubbing one night in Paris.
A former model (right) told CBS News’ Elaine Cobbe (left) about the night in 1987 that Jeffrey Epstein’ pal and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel allegedly raped her
The woman (pictured) said that she had known Brunel through her modeling industry days
The woman said that Brunel (center) had asked her to go back to his apartment to pick up something after a night of clubbing and that he had given her a drugged drink
‘I know I was raped. I know that,’ she said of what happened that night.
She said that Brunel had asked her to go back to his apartment to pick up something after they’d been out clubbing, which she agreed to do.
Once back at his home, the woman said that Brunel offered her a drink, which she believed he had drugged.
‘The next thing I remember was waking up in his bed and he was beside me,’ she said. ‘He was sleeping and I was naked. I was wondering how I got there.’
She said that she went to the living and put on her clothes. Although she said she couldn’t find the apartment’s front door, she was able to find a telephone, which she used to call her friend for help.
‘I said to him, “You have to come get me, but I can’t find the door, but I found the window. I’ll jump from the window and you catch me,”‘ she recalled saying.
The woman said that the next thing she remembered was waking up naked in bed next to a sleeping Brunel (pictured). She then called a friend asking him to come and help her because she couldn’t find the apartment’s front door and contemplated jumping out the window
The woman said that she decided to come forward with her claim after seeing Brunel’s name linked to disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein (pictured)
‘He said, “No, it’s like four stories up.” Luckily he was there to calm me down and everything, because I would have jumped.’
Her friend, Rafiq, told CBS News that when he saw her that night, the woman ‘was afraid, panicked.’ He added that she was ‘not even pale, she was white.’
‘You never forget [the] expression on your friend’s face when something like that happens,’ he noted.
The woman said that although she didn’t remember exactly what occurred when she was at Brunel’s home, ‘I did tell my friend everything from the beginning to the end, I told him right away everything.’
She added that later, her friend ‘told me that I had felt Jean-Luc on me. That I had a flash, I must have come to.’
When asked why she didn’t report the alleged rape to the police, she said that she ‘just wanted to forget everything.’
In September, French police appealed for victims and witnesses to come forward to help their investigation into the alleged rape of minors and other possible charges linked to the Epstein case.
The aim was to uncover any infractions in France as well as on any French victims abroad and to determine whether any French citizens were linked to crimes.
French authorities also expanded their Epstein investigation to include Brunel, who is being accused of procuring girls for the disgraced financier and pedophile.
The woman said that seeing Brunel’s name being associated with Epstein’s name was what made her decide to give French police a signed affidavit detailing her alleged rape at Brunel’s hands.
‘If he’s still doing it and we’re in 2019, how many girls has he done this to?’ she said, adding that perhaps because of Brunel’s connection to Epstein ‘they’ll finally listen to us and he’ll finally be stopped.’
French police began their probe into Brunel shortly after being sent a letter from a former Dutch model called Thysia Huisman.
She claimed Brunel spiked her drink and then raped her in his apartment in 1991, when she 18, just days after she moved to Paris and signed with his agency, Karin Models.
Huisman said that she was aware the statute of limitations had lapsed for her to press charges against Brunel for rape, but still urged authorities to look into Brunel and his businesses.
On Thursday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said that another woman had filed a filed a legal complaint in Paris accusing Brunel of sexual harassment. Her name was not released.
The complaint is being investigated as part of a broad French probe into alleged sexual exploitation of women and girls by Epstein and his circle.
Seven other women who have identified themselves as victims have spoken to police so far since the French probe was opened in August, the prosecutor’s office said.
Brunel is considered central to the French investigation because he was a frequent companion of Epstein, who killed himself August 10 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
French police searched the Paris offices of Brunel’s Karin Models last month. Epstein traveled often to France and had apartments in Paris.
Brunel’s lawyer said earlier in October that he contests accusations against him in the media, but that he’s available to talk to judicial officials.
Brunel’s exact whereabouts are unknown, but the Telegraph reported that French authorities ‘geolocated’ Brunel in South America in September. He disappeared in the wake of Epstein’s suicide.
Brunel is said to have launched the careers of models including Monica Bellucci, Angie Everhart, Sharon Stone, Christy Turlington, Rachel Hunter, Jerry Hall, Rebecca Romijn and Milla Jovovich.