Jean-Luc Brunel & Ghislaine Maxwell
With regards to the Epstein case, the American media have barely scratched the surface. Unlike what has been stated by most commentators, including on the Meidas Touch Network, Jean-Luc Brunel wasn't just "a photographer" but on the contrary an essential "cog" in the Epstein machine.
There is a large part of the story which has been missing from the US coverage, but which has been already covered by French investigative media such as Mediapart and 20 Minutes.
Let’s start with a brief recap.
1. Who was jean-Luc Brunel :
Brunel was a French model scout. He gained prominence by leading the international modelling agency Karin Models, and founded MC2 Model Management, with financing by Epstein. The subject of a 60 Minutes investigation in 1988, Brunel faced allegations of pimping and sexual assault spanning three decades. He came under scrutiny for his ties to Epstein, with whom he worked from the early 2000s to 2015, was accused of grooming young women and of taking part in a sex trafficking operation involving Epstein.
From 1998 to 2005, Brunel was listed as a passenger in flight logs for Epstein's private plane on 25 trips. He was also a regular visitor to the jail where Epstein was held in 2008, with at least 70 recorded visits.
In 2019, the French Police launched an investigation into Brunel after he went into hiding following Epstein's death. He was arrested on 16 December 2020 at the Charles de Gaulle airport trying to flee the country, and prosecutors charged him with the rape of two underage women. (The Statute of limitations prevented other similar charges to be filed.) However, he hanged himself in his cell on 19 February 2022 before his trial could proceed.
Links (in French) :
https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/2813907-20200703-quand-ghislaine-maxwell-cote-jeffrey-epstein-francais-jean-luc-brunel-jamais-loin
https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/affaire-epstein-lex-agent-de-mannequins-jean-luc-brunel-retrouve-mort-en-prison-19-02-2022-ANC37MSKQBGQBNZZSQMNO6MQ44.php
In 2024, Brunel's French attorneys have petitioned the courts to reopen the investigation into his death :
https://www.liberation.fr/societe/police-justice/suicide-de-jean-luc-brunel-en-detention-ses-avocats-demandent-une-enquete-administrative-20240109_CBBKCAYBCVAAJJKMLFFCHK2I3M/
I would like to see the American media contact Brunel's attorneys and obtain copies of the prosecution’s investigation which are in the public domain and since no one in France is likely to want to hide these files.
2. The Russian Connection :
After the French prosecutors launched an investigation into Brunel who had been placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness in connection with the charges of "aggravated human trafficking of minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation" in August 2019, one man came under scrutiny from investigators : Daniel S., a former fashion photographer and now… the manager of a Russian-based fashion television channel!
Daniel S. (his last name was not made public) had posted photos of himself posing with actor Robert De Niro, the First Lady of the Philippines, and French billionaire François-Henri Pinault and his wife, actress Salma Hayek. A woman named Juliette told the French journalists that she met Epstein in 2003, when she was 20 years-old, through Daniel S. According to her, he approached her on the Champs-Élysées, explaining that he was looking for models to work in New York. A few days later, he sent her a plane ticket and gave her Epstein’s address.
Never questioned by the French authorities Juliette gave her statement to the police in 2019. According to the media, Daniel S. allegedly introduced Epstein to at least two other women, and reportedly acted as a “recruiter” for other very wealthy individuals, including a sheikh from the United Arab Emirates.
French Police reportedly tried to locate him, but without success. What was his role in the system set up by Epstein and Brunel? The French investigation stopped after Brunel’s death, and Daniel S. was never questioned. French journalists did try to contact him through a close associate. He told them he did not wish to answer their questions.
But what we do know is that he fled to Russia and was given by the Russian government the management of a television channel. One may well ask: in payment for what services?
Link:
https://www.20minutes.fr/faits_divers/4136411-20250130-affaire-epstein-daniel-soupconne-avoir-joue-rabatteur-femmes-france-milliardaire
In July 2025, French investigative journalist Françoise Thom published a long article detailing Epstein’s Russian connection, based in part on the earlier publication of an investigation by the Dossier Center, a hacker organization.
The article revealed a genuine and highly profitable partnership between Epstein and the Kremlin. For him, it was about exploiting the financial opportunities offered by Russia; for the Kremlin, it was about seeking advice from this expert in tax havens and money laundering, requesting his assistance in providing cover for agents sent to the United States, and leveraging his networking skills to secure access to American targets of interest to the FSB.
Epstein’s contact was Sergei Belyakov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and later director of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Foundation. Beliakov is also a graduate of the FSB Academy. In the spring of 2014, he sought Epstein's advice on circumventing Western sanctions. Epstein recommended the launch of an alternative to Bitcoin, called "BRIC,"
In July 2014, Beliakov personally intervened to help Jeffrey Epstein obtain a Russian visa. He arranged a series of high-level meetings for him in Moscow. In July 2015, Epstein contacted Beliakov about an urgent matter: a "Russian girl from Moscow, Guzel Ganieva," was in New York and "trying to blackmail a group of powerful businessmen." Ganieva had ensnared a close friend and associate of Epstein, the billionaire Leon Black. Beliakov provided Epstein with a detailed intelligence file on Ganieva, who he believed was working alone and would be highly susceptible to the threat of deportation from the United States. Leon Black paid enormous sums to Epstein.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has examined part of a confidential Treasury Department file on Epstein. This file shows that Epstein used several Russian banks, now under sanctions, to process payments related to his sex trafficking network. A significant number of his victims came from Russia, Belarus, and other Eastern European countries, establishing a direct financial link between his criminal enterprise and financial institutions in that region. The scale of the transactions is staggering: a single bank account recorded 4,725 transfers totaling nearly $1.1 billion, representing thousands of potential leads for investigation. This wasn't just small favors Epstein did for the Kremlin. The sex trafficking was a cover for something else. It turns out that Epstein had a predilection for Russian women. Thus, his assistant, Svetlana (Lana) Pojidaïeva, obtained an O-1 talent visa in the United States thanks to a letter of recommendation from Belyakov.
Pojidaïeva is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that trains Russian diplomats and intelligence agents. Despite her brilliant academic record, she ended up becoming a model, represented by MC2, the modeling agency owned by, guess who, Jean-Luc Brunel.
She moved to the United States and became an associate of Epstein. For Yuri Shvetz, a KGB defector who was one of the first to reveal how the Epstein network had converged with that of the FSB, Pojidaeva's case is clear: “She was an undercover agent, infiltrated with Epstein's help to penetrate the American network linked to supercomputers and artificial intelligence."
Another Russian associate of Epstein, Masha Drokova, followed a similarly atypical path to infiltrate Silicon Valley. This fervent supporter of Vladimir Putin, was an associate of Konstantin Rykov, the Kremlin’s “chief troll” and a key figure in the Senate investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. elections. Having obtained an “Einstein” E16 visa thanks to the intervention of Esther Dyson, an old acquaintance of Epstein who sits on the board of the Russian search engine giant Yandex NV, she settled in the United States where she became Jeffrey Epstein's press secretary. Drokova's real task appears to have been to find American investors for Russia to finance technologies that could be particularly useful to the Kremlin.
In 2017, Drokova raised funds for Day One Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund she founded. She has raised over $70 million to date. Documents filed with the SEC (show that Day One Ventures is backed by a small group of wealthy individuals, most likely from Russia.
Thus Epstein’s and Brunel’s sex trafficking camouflaged an essential mission on behalf of the Russian services: providing cover for Russian agents and creating kompromat for the FSB.
There is more, including about the Maxwell-KGB connection, but you’ll have to read the entire article for yourselves. Use google translate or DeepL if necessary.
Link:
https://desk-russie.eu/2025/07/28/le-cloaque-et-le-chaos-la-russian-connexion-de-laffaire-epstein.html
The French have not pursued this line of investigation, which is largely irrelevant to their concerns, but I think the US media should, because it is likely where we'll find the source of the kompromat which virtually everyone assumes the Russians have on Mr. Trump. Who knows?
I am sorry to report that I have shared these articles with many liberal youtubers and podcasters including Meidas without any acknowledgement or interest whatsoever. The prurient aspects of the case still seem to override any desire to dig deeper.
ADDED LATER:
Thanks to contributor marlosan for pointing out that there is an English-language version of the article mentioned above here:
european-security.com/...
Highly recommended reading.
