Question
What happened to the MC2 modeling agency after Epstein?
Answer
MC2 Model Management was a modeling agency co-founded by Jean-Luc Brunel that received financial backing from Jeffrey Epstein. It was used, according to prosecutors and victims, as a vehicle for recruiting young women and girls into Epstein’s network under the pretext of legitimate modeling work.
The agency was based in Miami and had offices in other cities. It operated for years even as questions about Brunel’s conduct were raised by journalists and investigators. Vicky Ward’s early Vanity Fair profile of Epstein in 2003 touched on concerns about Brunel and the agency.
After Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, MC2 effectively stopped operating. The spotlight on Brunel’s role in the trafficking network made normal business operations untenable. Brunel himself became a subject of investigation in France as well as in the U.S.
In December 2020, Brunel was arrested in France at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he attempted to fly to Senegal. He was detained in connection with the French judicial investigation into Epstein-related sex trafficking. He was found dead in his cell in Paris on February 19, 2022, while awaiting trial.
With Brunel’s death, the possibility of a full accounting of MC2’s role as a trafficking front was significantly diminished. Civil suits by survivors have continued to assert claims related to the agency’s activities.
Sources
- French judicial records, 2020–2022
- U.S. v. Maxwell trial testimony regarding model recruitment
- Investigative reporting on Brunel and MC2, Miami Herald and others