Epstein's French modeling agent friend bragged about his trips

EXCLUSIVE: Travels with Jean-Luc Brunel! How Jeffrey Epstein’s modeling agent friend, recently arrested on rape charges, bragged about his exotic trips on Tripadvisor, praising and posting photos of beautiful women

Jeffrey Epstein’s French modeling scout friend Jean-Luc Brunel was arrested in December in Paris as he tried to board a flight to Dakar, Senegal
He is accused of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, criminal conspiracy and human trafficking – all related to children and his friendship with Epstein
But until he was arrested, Brunel, 74, lived a life of luxury and bragged about his exotic trips on Tripadvisor
In 431 reviews from 2011 to 2019, Brunel commented on ‘smiling’ waitresses and described girls in Moscow as being ‘pampered, fashionable and elegant’
Brunel’s final post was in July of 2019, the same month Epstein was arrested, eating at a St Tropez restaurant
He wrote: ‘Included in the price was 2 marvelous employees, very smart and pretty…Ambre and Charlotte…. we owe them a lovely time’
In September 2018 Brunel visited Moscow and was impressed by a restaurant
He wrote:’ Beautful waitresses dressed with blue short dresses brings vodka and tequila…they also drink with you’
Brunel’s most visited city is Bangkok in Thailand, a known hub for human trafficking

The French model scout who allegedly helped Jeffrey Epstein run his sex trafficking ring lived a life of luxury and bragged about his exotic trips on Tripadvisor, while his victims tried to track him down, DailyMail.com can exclusively disclose.

Jean-Luc Brunel visited 473 cities feasting on Michelin-star meals such as scallops and beef carpaccio while getting manicures in the spas of five-star hotels where rooms cost up to $1,000 a night.

The 74-year-old posted about his travels on a Tripadvisor profile, providing French prosecutors a roadmap of his movements for over a decade and could be vital evidence in the case against him.

In 431 reviews from 2011 to 2019, Brunel commented on ‘smiling’ waitresses and described girls in Moscow as being ‘pampered, fashionable and elegant.’

But he was caustic when things were not up to his standard and snobbish when the food was bad, once complaining about ‘mozzarella that has a consistency of plastic.’

Dismissing a trendy restaurant in Paris called La Societe, he wrote: ‘This is not Gastronomy, this is not Fashion, this is not Paris.’

Of the famed Angelina bakery in Paris, he griped: ‘Most of the clients are tourists. Where is the delicious hot chocolate? Where is the delicious Mont Blanc (dessert)?’

Brunel’s final post was in July of 2019, the same month Epstein was arrested as he got off his private plane at an airport outside New York City.

The 74-year-old posted about his travels on a Tripadvisor profile, providing French prosecutors a roadmap of his movements for over a decade and could be vital evidence in the case against him

In September 2018 Brunel visited Moscow and was impressed by a restaurant

He wrote:’ Beautiful waitresses dressed with blue short dresses brings vodka and tequila…they also drink with you’

In January 2019 Brunel was at a coffee shop in Bangkok and posted a photo of a young waitress doing a peace sign in his review

In a comment he wrote: ‘Beside the charming service by a bunch of smiling young waitresses you will enjoy the food a lot of great salads eggs Benedict ( so good)’

Brunel was in St Tropez at Couleurs Jardin restaurant eating ‘fish tartare…mussels.. mullet etc… desserts are all delicious…’

In a creepy comment he wrote: ‘Included in the price was 2 marvelous employees, very smart and pretty…Ambre and Charlotte…. we owe them a lovely time.’

Brunel’s posts give an insight into the mind of a man who French police arrested in December at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as he tried to board a flight to Dakar, Senegal.

The 74-year-old, who claims to have discovered models Christy Turlington and Milla Jovovich, is accused of a litany of disturbing crimes by French prosecutors, including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, criminal conspiracy and human trafficking – all related to underage children and his friendship with Epstein.

Brunel’s lawyer has in the past denied any wrongdoing.

Brunel came to the attention of French prosecutors after Epstein’s arrest in July 2019 and they have been building a case against him ever since.

French police have already raided the offices of Karin Models, an agency founded by Brunel, and searched Epstein’s luxury $8 million Paris home not far from the Arc de Triomphe.

But the whereabouts of Brunel, who has worked with the likes of Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci, were a mystery until his apprehension.

DailyMail.com verified the identity of his Tripadvisor account due to information provided by sources and independent research.

The profile goes dark for almost the whole of 2015, which is significant because prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleged in January that year that she and Brunel had sex ‘many times when I was 16 through 19 years old.’

Giuffre, who claims she was also forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, said in a court filing Brunel was a key player in the pedophile’s international sex trafficking operation. Prince Andrew denies the allegations against him.

On a trip to the Iate Plaza Hotel in Fortaleza, Brunel posted a selfie of himself reflected in a window because it was broken

. In his one star review, titled ‘the WORST management’, Brunel wrote: ‘Hotel is dirty, no service, my room 401 has 2 broken windows. Another room 308 is dirty. Table seems scratched by hooligans. Do not stay there’

In April 2019, the manager at a restaurant called Mondo Gastronomico in Sao Paulo made the mistake of crossing the Frenchman

Brunel wrote: ‘Food is great ….manager very busy to look at his phone. I was asking him may be to politely if they had wifi. He looked at me with an air of superiority to say that only 5G could access their wifi. If you don’t want to add roaming charges to the dinner bill, eat somewhere else. Anyhow. Being courteous doesn’t hurt especially for a manager’

Writing in his Tripadvisor profile, Brunel portrays himself as a bon viveur with a taste for the good life.

He says: ‘I travel a lot and often change my plans at the last minute. Being always polite, respectful, and easygoing is my attitude.

‘It helps a lot tourism is an industry often driven by fast profits. By privileging quality of life over fabrication of so-called luxury, by refusing the overpricing, I am satisfied most of the time.’

Worryingly, Brunel’s most visited city is Bangkok in Thailand, a known hub for human trafficking.

After that comes New York, Paris, Miami, Moscow, Lisbon, Milan and Fortaleza, a city on the coast in the North East of Brazil.

Brunel’s travel map shows he has visited 37 places in Brazil, where unverified reports claimed he and Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell had been hiding out after the pedophile’s arrest. Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 at her recently purchased home in Bradford, New Hampshire.

Brunel has traveled widely in Africa, including Dakar where he complained about the food at the Accor hotel by saying: ‘The fish got me sick .. . If I write SHAME it is to be moderate.’

The hotel Maison d’hotes ‘Au Fil du Fleuve’ was more to his liking and Brunel wrote: ‘Time is forgotten … it is another world.

‘Thank you to the owner, a lovely woman who has travelled the world. She has preserved the hospitality and a genuine quality of life that is disappearing very fast.

‘If you can get a reservation… DO NOT GO ANYWHERE ELSE……IT IS THE BEST.’

In Asia Brunel has been to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, numerous cities in China, Indonesia and India.

There are several stops in the Philippines, numerous cities in Thailand, Vietnam and dozens across Europe.

In North America, Brunel has been to Mexico, Panama, Canada, Argentina, Paraguay. Bolivia, Chile and a slew of places in the United States.

Pictures from Epstein’s island show Brunel hugging and laughing Maxwell, who was arrested in July and is awaiting trial for procuring girls for Epstein, charges she denies

Worryingly, Brunel’s most visited city is Bangkok in Thailand, a known hub for human trafficking. After that comes New York, Paris, Miami, Moscow, Lisbon, Milan and Fortaleza, a city on the coast in the North East of Brazil

Sometimes Brunel writes reviews with fulsome praise but for the most part his arrogance is his most distinguishing quality.

On a trip to the Iate Plaza Hotel in Fortaleza, Brunel posted a selfie of himself reflected in a window because it was broken.

In his one star review, titled ‘the WORST management’, Brunel wrote: ‘Hotel is dirty, no service, my room 401 has 2 broken windows. Another room 308 is dirty. Table seems scratched by hooligans. Do not stay there.’

In April 2019, the manager at a restaurant called Mondo Gastronomico in Sao Paulo made the mistake of crossing the Frenchman.

‘If you don’t want to add roaming charges to the dinner bill, eat somewhere else. Anyhow. Being courteous doesn’t hurt especially for a manager.’

In January 2019 Brunel was at a coffee shop in Bangkok and posted a photo of a young waitress doing a peace sign in his review.

In a sleazy comment he wrote: ‘Beside the charming service by a bunch of smiling young waitresses you will enjoy the food a lot of great salads eggs Benedict ( so good)’.

On another trip to Sao Paulo Brunel was disgusted by the restaurant Aya Japanese Cuisine in Sao Paulo.

Brunel wrote: ‘Sushi swimming in truffle oil, Jiro (famous sushi chef from Japan) would die if he had to eat it. Lobster cooked in garlic cream …disgusting.’

Brunel’s frequent trips to Paris spawned a number of takedowns of cafes and restaurants on Tripadvisor which he thinks are not up to par.

Benard Pastelaria e Restaurante gets one star as Brunel says ‘I came for breakfast…wrong move.’

He wrote: ‘Owners are in the wrong business but tourism is booming and they take advantage.’ With awful irony, he adds: ‘More precisely they abuse.’

She said in a court filing Brunel was a key player in the pedophile’s international sex trafficking operation

Giuffre claims she was also forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, which he denies

Angelina, the Parisian bakery, is dismissed for having ‘fast food, slow service, expensive’.

Brunel writes: ‘A loss of quality hidden behind a famous name. Most of the clients are tourists , one-time visitors, Where is the delicious hot chocolate? Where is the delicious Mont Blanc? Angelina has given up on quality. Industrial pastries have surely increased the profit if the store, definitely not the pleasure of a pastry lover’.

The restaurant La Societe is ‘set up the right way’ with fashionable and cool people but Brunel hated the food.

He wrote: ‘Remember, it is a privilege to seat here…never forget that, you are the stupid client. This is not Gastronomy, this is not Fashion, this is not Paris’.

On a trip to Jupiter in Florida, Brunel ate at The Woods, the restaurant owned by Tiger Woods but had little appetite for it.

He wrote: ‘Tiger woods, better on a golf course than running a kitchen’.

Brunel kept his pen sharp in New York where he slammed Eataly, the popular restaurant and Italian grocery store in Manhattan.

Brunel wrote: ‘It is the opposite of Italian way of life.

‘Watch the quality of the food it is unacceptable to serve mozeralla that has a consistency of plastic. Tomatoes hard without taste and not even peeled properly’.

Dining at the French restaurant Le Midi Bar in Manhattan provoked another rage because of its ‘cheap hormonal chicken marinaded I don’t want to know in what’.

Even minor things could set Brunel off such as the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, which has hosted the likes of Katie Holmes and Serena Williams, which got marked down for not having coca-cola on offer.

His review says: ‘How come the best hotel in Miami behaves like a lousy airline. The definition of a luxury is to give a choice to a client…… and good luck serving rum and Pepsi’.

For all his complaining, Brunel is full of praise when things are to his liking.

He compliments one restaurant in Portugal for the ‘delicious bacalhau (Atlantic cod ) with green beans, peas and potatoes’.

But he was caustic when things were not up to his standard and snobbish when the food was bad, once complaining about ‘mozzarella that has a consistency of plastic’

Even minor things could set Brunel off such as the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, which has hosted the likes of Katie Holmes and Serena Williams, which got marked down for not having coca-cola on offer

At Ai Fiori in New York he starts with a lobster salad and a mix of fennel and other herbs, followed by scallops with cherry tomatoes and corn.

On a visit to the sushi chef Jiro Ono in Japan Brunel calls the experience a ‘miracle’

He wrote: ‘It should be the only four star Michelin. It is the best restaurant in the entire world.

‘You see the rice under the fish, but sometimes you don’t even feel the rice, it is so light and airy just melts with the fish meat in your mouth.

‘It is a perfect symphony – only the purest in music or architecture can be compared to Jiro’s mastery. In your gastronome’s life there are two periods. Before JIRO and After JIRO’.

Brunel’s favourite hotel in the world is Le Bristol in Paris, where rooms typically cost $1,000 a night.

He praises the ‘impeccable’ housekeeping and the lobby staff who ‘read your mind’ and make you feel at home.

In one review Brunel says: ‘The Bristol has preserved a way of life that money alone cannot produce’

Among the sleazy comments he writes is one about the staff on a visit of the Ararat Park Hyatt hotel in Moscow

He writes: ‘Location hasn’t changed it is one of the best. But lobby has no life beside 2 women at front desk.’

In September 2018 Brunel visited Moscow again and was impressed by the restaurant Zhiguli .

It put Brunel in a whimsical mood and he titled his review: ‘Back in the 70’s.’

He wrote: ‘What a place! (took me) back in time. Beautful waitresses dressed with blue short dresses brings vodka and tequila…they also drink with you. Great food … incredible atmosphere.. a great evening. Moscow is great!!’

Commenting on the restaurant William Bass on the same trip, Brunel said: ‘At night very relax atmosphere, no ego trip, no pressure…guys are polite all the girls are pampered fashionable and elegant….a huge change from the Western world’.

Brunel’s final post is perhaps his most outrageous of them all.

Brunel’s final post is perhaps his most outrageous of them all. While Epstein, who was arrested on July 6, 2019, languished in the grim Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York where he would kill himself a few weeks later, Brunel was still enjoying the high life

On July 21st he gave Couleurs Jardin in St Tropez a glowing five star review, commenting it was a ‘lovely evening’

While Epstein, who was arrested on July 6, 2019, languished in the grim Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York where he would kill himself a few weeks later, Brunel was still enjoying the high life.

On July 21st he gave Couleurs Jardin in St Tropez a glowing five star review, commenting it was a ‘lovely evening.’

Brunel wrote: ‘In a restaurant food should be the most important… At Couleurs Jardin, all was very good. Wild Fish tartare…mussels.. mullet etc… desserts all delicious…

‘Included in the price was 2 marvelous employees, very smart and pretty…Ambre and Charlotte…. we owe them a lovely time.’

Brunel’s Tripadvisor account may well be useful to French prosecutors for another reason – it gives further evidence of his ties to Epstein.

A number of the restaurants that Brunel has dined at are close to Epstein’s home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Brunel has been to Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein has a mansion and visited Columbus, Ohio.

The city seems an unlikely destination for a French model scout but it is home to Les Wexner, the founder of L Brands with whom Epstein was very close for years.

Brunel has also been to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Epstein had a ranch where he allegedly abused some of his victims.

The profile shows that Brunel wrote two reviews of restaurants in Paris on July 3rd and July 7th 2017.

Flight logs show that Epstein’s private jet flew from New York to Paris on July 2nd that year.

He went to Lake Geneva in Switzerland for a day on July 7th then returned to Paris from where he flew back to New York on the 11th.

Maxwell is accused of procuring girls as young as 14 for Epstein between 1994 and 1997

The trip however was after Brunel sued Epstein in 2015, claiming the financier’s legal troubles had damaged his modeling business.

The two men may have patched things up, given their long history together which has been detailed in court documents filed in various cases in the US.

The lawsuits said that Brunel and Epstein founded a modeling agency together called MC2, the ‘2’ being ‘squared’.

The name was a pun on Albert Einstein’s formula E=MC2 but instead of the E being energy, it was ‘Epstein’.

Brunel is said to have created a pipeline of aspiring models, which he brought to the US, some of whom Epstein abused.

Among Brunel’s alleged victims were 12-year-old triplets from a Paris housing estate who he brought to Epstein as a birthday present, Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed in a civil suit filed by the Miami US attorney’s office in 2015.

In one message found in Epstein’s Florida mansion, the person taking notes writes that Brunel ‘just did a good one—18 years.’ The girl supposedly said ‘I love Jeffrey,’ according to Giuffre’s civil suit.

Another note says Brunel ‘has a teacher for you to teach you how to speak Russian. She is 2 X 8 [16] years old not blonde. Lessons are free and you can have 1st today if you call.’

Pictures from Epstein’s island show Brunel hugging and laughing Maxwell, who was arrested in July and is awaiting trial for procuring girls for Epstein, charges she denies.

Brunel’s prolific posting on Tripadvisor earned him numerous accolades from the website, which apparently didn’t realize an alleged rapist and sex trafficker was one of their most popular contributors.

Brunel is a level 6 contributor, the highest, and 143 people have voted his posts or reviews helpful.

Brunel was given the badge of a luxury hotel expert, a restaurant expert and 215,000 people had read his posts.

When contacted by DailyMail.com, a spokesman for Tripadvisor said: ‘Tripadvisor takes the protection of user privacy and personal data very seriously. Pursuant to applicable privacy laws and our privacy policy, we are not at liberty to confirm, deny or disclose the information requested.’

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