The Brunel-Epstein File Stays Active in Paris, Ten Women Await Answers

Introduction: a legal file that refuses to close

An investigation born from an avalanche of documents

The Paris prosecutor's office created, in February 2026, a dedicated team of magistrates tasked with examining possible links between French citizens and the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier who died in custody in 2019. This decision came after the U.S. Department of Justice released roughly 3.5 million documents related to the case, a volume that prosecutor Laure Beccuau herself described as a "titanic task" for French justice, according to Le Monde.

On February 18, 2026, two separate investigations were opened and assigned to five magistrates: one covering human trafficking, encompassing what the justice system calls recruitment or procuring, and the other covering financial offenses such as money laundering, breaches of integrity, or tax fraud. Both tracks are working in coordination with the National Police Judiciary Directorate and the National Financial Prosecutor's Office, Le Monde reports.

Why this file directly concerns France

The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed it would also fully re-examine the case of Jean-Luc Brunel, the former modeling agency boss who died in prison in 2022, cross-referencing the new American documents with material already gathered by French justice since 2019, according to The Guardian.

As of early July 2026, this file remains actively under investigation: ten women have filed complaints in Paris over events sometimes dating back decades, while a diplomat and a French musician, both named in the Epstein files, are under separate examination over financial and sexual-nature allegations. This investigation, however slow and methodical, illustrates the scale of the work the justice system faces against an international network.

Timeline: from Brunel's arrest to his death in prison

A man at the center of the French file since 2019

Jean-Luc Brunel, born in 1946, co-founded the modeling agency Karin Models in 1977 and later MC2 Model Management in the United States with funding from Epstein. The Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation as early as August 2019, just days after Epstein's death in custody in New York, to determine whether sexual crimes had been committed on French soil or against French victims, according to the BBC.

Brunel was arrested on December 16, 2020, at Charles-de-Gaulle airport as he was preparing to board a flight to Senegal. He was then placed under formal investigation for sexual assault and for similar acts against minors, but was never formally charged with human trafficking, for lack of evidence deemed sufficient at the time by the investigating magistrate, Le Monde specifies.

A death in custody that did not close the file

On February 19, 2022, Brunel was found hanged in his cell at La Santé prison in Paris, where he had been held for more than a year awaiting trial. French authorities ruled it a suicide. The judicial investigation opened in 2019 officially concluded in 2023, a year after his death, with no other person having been implicated in the same acts, according to The Guardian.

But Brunel's death did not extinguish the demand for justice. Two of the eleven plaintiffs heard during the investigation launched a civil action against his heirs, seeking damages. The Brunel family's lawyers, Marianne Abgrall and Mathias Chichportich, called the move "inadmissible" and time-barred under French law, with a hearing set for late March, Le Monde reports.

I'll say it plainly: that a man accused by eleven women could die in custody without ever facing trial amounts, for the victims, to a form of denied justice that reopening the file can never fully repair. The complete judicial truth was taken from them by an act they never chose.

The established facts: what the documents and complaints confirm

The pattern described by investigators

According to material gathered by the Paris prosecutor's office and cited by Le Monde, victim testimonies describe an "atmosphere of prostitution" and a "climate of sexual violence" at certain gatherings organized by Brunel. Several women reported having been given a drink that allegedly caused them to lose consciousness and memory of what followed, a pattern of drug-facilitated assault recurring across several separate accounts.

A search conducted during the investigation turned up a document listing the first and last names of young women, noting the sexual acts performed and indicating whether they were minors, according to court records reported by Le Monde. A psychiatric evaluation ordered during the investigation also noted in Brunel a "tendency toward pathological lying."

Ten new plaintiffs identified in early July 2026

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed, in an interview given to radio station RTL and reported on May 17, 2026, that around twenty people had come forward as suspected victims since her public appeal in February, including ten new ones previously unknown to authorities. "There are about ten of them," she specified, adding that several of these women live outside France, complicating the organization of interviews, according to Al Jazeera.

"We have also recovered Mr. Epstein's computers, his phone records, and his address books," the prosecutor added, specifying that her team would seek international judicial cooperation to advance cases involving victims based abroad, according to the same source. These ten women, whose identities have not been made public out of respect for the proceedings, filed complaints in Paris over events dating back several decades, confirming that the file remains fully active as of early July 2026.

What stands out to me most is this number: twenty women are still coming forward, seven years after Epstein's death and four years after Brunel's. That isn't judicial overreach, it's the normal amount of time it takes a victim to find the courage to speak. Justice has to adapt to that pace, not the other way around.

The financial track: a diplomat and a musician under scrutiny

The case of diplomat Fabrice Aidan

Among the French figures named in the Epstein files is diplomat Fabrice Aidan, currently on leave from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work at energy group Engie. He appears repeatedly in the documents, having exchanged personal and professional information with Epstein, notably between 2010 and 2013 while posted at the United Nations, Le Monde reports.

Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot himself referred the file to judicial authorities on February 10, 2026. According to available information, Mr. Aidan was reportedly removed from a United Nations post following an FBI investigation into suspicions of accessing child sexual abuse material, allegations he firmly denies, Le Monde specifies.

Musician Frédéric Chaslin targeted by a harassment complaint

Conductor Frédéric Chaslin, a correspondent and friend of Epstein, is the subject of a sexual harassment complaint filed in Thonon-les-Bains, concerning events dating to 2016 and likely time-barred. An email he allegedly sent to Epstein, cited by Le Monde, refers to a young woman described as a "philosophy student."Chaslin maintains he was only looking for a translator for sightseeing visits.

The National Financial Prosecutor's Office is separately conducting an investigation into former minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline Lang, suspected of aggravated tax fraud and money laundering in connection with a company created by Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jack Lang resigned as president of the Arab World Institute on February 7, 2026 and denies any wrongdoing, according to The Guardian.

I want to be clear: being named in the Epstein files proves nothing in itself, and the presumption of innocence must apply to Aidan, to Chaslin, and to Lang alike. But silence or the absence of a convincing public explanation from them legitimately feeds doubt, and it is precisely the justice system's role to decide that, not social media's.

The victims' accounts: what they are telling investigators

Ebba Karlsson's testimony

Swedish national Ebba Karlsson, 56, filed a complaint explaining that she was approached on a Stockholm street in 1990 by a man offering her a modeling contract for a swimwear brand in Monaco. She says she discovered his real identity, Daniel Siad, thanks to photographs found in the latest batches of documents released by the American government, Le Monde reports.

According to her account, Siad allegedly took her to Cannes to a friend's home, where she says she was sexually assaulted in a pool house before remaining there for several days. Her complaint for sexual assault and human trafficking appears, however, to be time-barred under current French law, an obstacle that recurs in nearly every testimony gathered by the justice system.

The emblematic case of an anonymous former model

A former model, interviewed by the Central Office for the Suppression of Violence Against Persons (OCRVP), explained that she was introduced to Epstein by Siad in 2013, under the pretext of becoming his "assistant." She told investigators, according to Le Monde: "He wanted me at his disposal. Sexually, I was his thing. He always told me I was his slave."

Other women cited by Le Monde describe evenings where "there were a lot of very young girls, aged 15 to 20, often from Eastern European countries," organized, according to them, in Brunel's Paris apartment under the guise of meetings with fashion industry professionals.

I believe these accounts, however difficult they are to read, must be reported precisely rather than softened. Downplaying the severity of what is described would betray these women a second time, after the institutional silence they endured for decades.

The fight to abolish the statute of limitations

An unprecedented mobilization of more than fifty women

In late June 2026, more than fifty women who have alleged sexual assault by various public figures, including Epstein, Brunel, and British billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, came together to demand the elimination of the statute of limitations under French law. Currently, the law imposes a twenty-year limit for adults and thirty years from the age of majority for minors, the BBC reports.

Thysia Huisman, who says she was sexually assaulted by Brunel at age 18, summed up the group's position in a phrase that went viral: "A sexual assault has no expiration date, and neither does the trauma it leaves behind." That statement captures the gap between rigid, bounded legal time and the psychological time a victim needs before she can file a complaint.

Cases stalled despite documented evidence

Several complaints filed as part of this movement have already been ruled inadmissible due to the statute of limitations, including those against former Elite Europe agency boss Gérald Marie, whose spokesperson stated that the allegations had already "been the subject of a thorough investigation in France, which was closed without further action," according to the BBC.

This exposes a central tension in the French file: investigators now have an unprecedented volume of documents, but the existing legal framework considerably limits their ability to turn this material into actual prosecutions, fifteen months after the new investigations began.

I believe this debate over the statute of limitations extends far beyond the Epstein file alone. If France truly wants to learn from this case, it will one day have to choose between traditional legal certainty and recognizing that some trauma simply takes longer to surface than current law allows.

What French justice can still accomplish

A full re-examination of the Brunel file underway

The Paris prosecutor's office announced a "complete re-examination" of the investigation opened in 2019 and closed in 2023, aiming to systematically cross-reference material already gathered with the new American documents, according to Le Monde. This effort, even though it can no longer lead to a criminal conviction of Brunel himself, could help identify other individuals involved in the network.

According to the Wall Street Journal, French authorities are actively organizing the collection of testimony from victims residing abroad, a demanding logistical process that illustrates the international reach of this file well beyond French borders.

The limits the justice system itself acknowledges

It must be said honestly: at this stage, no final report, no new formal charge, and no definitive court ruling has been made public regarding the financial track involving Aidan, Chaslin, or the Lang family. The file remains, as of early July 2026, at the investigation stage, and nothing allows anyone to state today how these various proceedings will conclude.

The prosecutor's office has itself noted that being mentioned in the "Epstein files" does not automatically mean an offense was committed, an essential nuance that media coverage of the case must constantly reiterate to avoid any unjustified rush to judgment.

I refuse to anticipate a conclusion the justice system has not yet reached. My role as a columnist stops where unfounded speculation begins: I can demand transparency and rigor, but I cannot substitute myself for an investigating judge who has access to the entire file.

The silence of international institutions on the French file

Still limited coordination with foreign investigations

While the United Kingdom has set up a national coordination group to examine Epstein's links with British public figures, French justice does not yet have an equivalent centralizing mechanism with its foreign counterparts beyond the standard judicial cooperation requested by prosecutor Beccuau. This international fragmentation mechanically slows the pace of cross-border investigations.

American authorities themselves have published no clear timeline for any further document releases, leaving French justice dependent on the pace of disclosure decided in Washington rather than on its own judicial calendar.

Why this slowness must not extinguish public vigilance

The main risk, in a file stretched out over so much time, is that media and political attention fades before the financial investigations and new complaints produce concrete results. That is precisely what happened between 2019 and 2022 with the Brunel file, before his death abruptly closed part of the investigation.

Maintaining journalistic and public pressure on this file remains, at this stage, one of the few levers citizens have to prevent the financial tracks involving influential figures from quietly getting bogged down in judicial procedure.

I believe media vigilance is essential here, not out of sensationalism, but because recent history shows that these cases involving powerful figures easily stall once the spotlight fades. Continuing to talk about it, factually, is a form of civic responsibility.

Conclusion: a case testing French justice's staying power

A file that will not close anytime soon

Seven years after Epstein's death and four years after Brunel's, the French file remains open, active, and expanding: ten new plaintiffs, two separate investigations, several public figures under scrutiny, and an unprecedented citizen mobilization to change the law on the statute of limitations. Nothing in the material available as of early July 2026 suggests this file is nearing its conclusion.

What can reasonably be expected now

The only honest position is to follow this file with the same rigor as the justice system itself: demand that every financial lead and every victim's testimony be examined to the end, without prejudging the outcome, but never accepting institutional silence or the passage of time as an excuse to avoid getting to the bottom of things.

I'll say it again in closing: this file is not a conspiracy theory, it is a documented, slow, and rigorous judicial investigation. My role is not to invent culprits, but to demand that French justice see through to the end what these ten women, and the fifty others mobilized to end the statute of limitations, have been asking of it for months.

I'll close with a simple conviction: the memory of Epstein's and Brunel's victims deserves better than a file that fades into general indifference. As long as a single complaint remains unanswered, this file must stay in the spotlight, even seven years after Epstein's death.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

Who I am and my limits

I am a columnist and analyst, not a magistrate or a judicial investigator. This piece draws exclusively on articles published by recognized media outlets and on public statements by the Paris prosecutor, without direct access to the investigative file or to material covered by investigative secrecy.

My editorial commitment on this file is simple: demand transparency and judicial rigor, without conspiracy theorizing and without asserting conclusions the justice system has not yet reached itself.

My method for this investigation

This piece cross-references articles from The Guardian, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC published between February and June 2026, along with statements directly attributed to prosecutor Laure Beccuau. No unsourced allegation has been presented as an established fact, and the statute-of-limitations statuses mentioned reflect the state of French law as reported by these same sources.

Sources

Primary sources

The Guardian — French prosecutors to set up special team to review Epstein files, February 14, 2026

Le Monde — Epstein files hand French prosecutors trove of new leads, February 19, 2026

Al Jazeera — France listening to 10 new suspected victims of Epstein, May 17, 2026

Secondary sources

Democracy Now! — French prosecutors reopen probe into Epstein associates, February 20, 2026

The Wall Street Journal — French prosecutors have identified more victims in Epstein probe, May 17, 2026

BBC News — Women alleging sexual assault in France call to abolish statute of limitations, June 25, 2026

BBC News — Jean-Luc Brunel: Epstein associate found dead in Paris prison cell, February 19, 2022