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'ERSON

exner is more than a mentor.
f older men—father figures—
while making his way in the

indirect, source of beautiful

in charge of Victoria’s Secret,
mpanies and—better yet—in
catalog. What this means for
, like a fox that’s gotten hold of
according to evidence collected
pstein victims, eventually pro-
nodeling agency, and provided
that agency, in New York City.
enchman—a playboy modeling
who was an owner of the Karin

a modeling agent since the sev-
ched the careers of Monica Bel-
Hunter, Milla Jovovich, Rebecca
, Sharon Stone, and Estella War-
ton and other well-known cover
ubject of a 60 Minutes investiga-
ual exploitation in the modeling
sed Eileen Ford of the elite Ford
ties with the playboy. (Brunel’s
in a 1995 book about the fashion

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FILTHY RICH

industry—Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, by Michael
Gross.)
But Brunel’s reputation did not prevent Jeffrey Epstein from
getting involved in his business.
According to a summary judgment court filing by Bradley
Edwards, a victims’ lawyer defending against a lawsuit by Jeffrey
Epstein alleging fabrication of sexual assault cases against him,
Epstein had provided support for Brunel’s agency, which changed
its name, in 2005, from Karin to MC2—as in E = mc².
As a scout for MC2, Brunel traveled the world in search of
undiscovered talent, favoring Scandinavia, Israel, central Europe,
the former Soviet republics, and South America, setting up mod-
eling competitions and negotiating with other international mod-
eling agents and agencies.
But according to the court filing, in which Edwards detailed
the information he had gathered in support of victims, Epstein
and Brunel had used the agency to bring underage girls from for-
eign countries into the United States by promising them model-
ing contracts. These girls were then housed in condominiums
belonging to Epstein. “Epstein and Brunel would then obtain a
visa for these girls,” the document states, “then charge the
underage girls rent, presumably to live as underage prostitutes in
the condos.”
“I strongly deny having participated, neither directly nor
indirectly, in the actions Mr. Jeffrey Epstein is being accused of,”
Brunel would say. “I strongly deny having committed any illicit
act or any wrongdoing in the course of my work as a scouter or
model agencies manager. I have exercised with the utmost ethi-
cal standard for almost forty years.”
According to Brunel, his association with Jeffrey Epstein

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