Content note: this report refers to sexual exploitation and abuse. BBC News Brasil has published testimony and documentary evidence indicating that French model agent Jean‑Luc Brunel used agencies connected to him to seek out South American teenagers for Jeffrey Epstein and to arrange visas to the United States. Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) has since opened a confidential inquiry to assess whether a recruitment network operated in Brazil. (yahoo.com)
One account centres on Gláucia Fekete, then 16, who travelled with Brunel’s team to a contest in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in August 2004. She says Brunel later proposed an immediate move to New York “for shows”; her mother refused consent and ended all contact. She now describes that refusal as life‑saving. (correiodopovo.com.br)
A second participant, referred to as Laura, recalls Brunel spending time with the youngest contestants and keeping close control of some girls’ money. While she considered the event professionally run, she believed Brunel could identify who was most vulnerable among the teenagers present. (yahoo.com)
Files released by US authorities place Epstein in Guayaquil on 24–25 August 2004, overlapping with the contest’s final. The same cache records at least one model under 16 who flew on Epstein’s aircraft twice that year. These materials underpin the BBC’s timeline for events around the competition. (yahoo.com)
Another Brazilian woman, identified by the BBC as Ana, describes being recruited in São Paulo in the early 2000s, meeting Epstein soon after her 18th birthday, and-critically-obtaining a US visa sponsored by a Brunel‑run agency despite doing no modelling for it. She states the visa was arranged solely so she could visit Epstein; US authorities later cancelled it in Miami after questioning who was paying her. (yahoo.com)
Court filings and investigative reporting indicate that Brunel’s US agencies-initially Karin Models of America and later MC2 Model Management-were used to attract girls from several countries. A former MC2 bookkeeper, Maritza Vásquez, testified in 2010 that Epstein provided about US$1 million in financial backing and that visas were paid for in connection with the agency. Separate litigation records reference a letter of credit tied to MC2. Brunel denied wrongdoing before his death. (bishop-accountability.org)
Brazilian prosecutors reacted in February 2026. According to statements reported by Correio Braziliense, federal prosecutor Cínthia Gabriela Borges, from the MPF’s National Unit to Combat International Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling (UNTC), said the office is gathering accounts from women who had contact with Epstein to understand potential recruitment methods. The women are not targets of the inquiry. (correiobraziliense.com.br)
The institutional context matters. The MPF launched the UNTC as a specialised, nationwide unit in January 2025 to coordinate cross‑border investigations with the Federal Police and foreign authorities. Its mandate includes proactive case‑building, asset measures and international cooperation-tools that will be relevant if the Brazil thread of the Epstein case advances. (mpf.mp.br)
Brazil refined its criminal framework in 2016. Law No. 13.344/2016 defines human trafficking domestically and internationally and requires proof of coercion, fraud, violence or abuse of vulnerability, aligning national law with the Palermo Protocol. Prosecutors have highlighted that events a decade ago raise evidential and jurisdictional challenges, including conduct that may have occurred largely outside Brazil. (planalto.gov.br)
The visa route is a central policy question. In US immigration law, temporary work pathways used by fashion models include H‑1B3 (for “fashion models of distinguished merit and ability”) and the O‑1 category for individuals of extraordinary ability. Both require petitioning US sponsors and documentary evidence. Allegations that agency sponsorships were used as travel cover underscore the importance of petition scrutiny and post‑entry compliance checks by US authorities. (govinfo.gov)
For survivors and witnesses, the MPF has stressed a victim‑centred approach. Borges has urged women with relevant information to come forward, noting that understanding how introductions were made, who handled documents and how costs were controlled will shape the evidential map. Prosecutors have also said they will monitor continuing US disclosures tied to the case. (correiobraziliense.com.br)
Brunel’s status is relevant to any back‑and‑forth requests for evidence. He was arrested in France in 2020 and found dead in his Paris cell in February 2022 while under investigation for offences including rape of minors. French authorities confirmed an apparent suicide, and Brunel’s lawyers said he denied the accusations. (aljazeera.com)
Policy implications are direct for modelling and talent agencies operating transnationally. Sponsor due diligence, audited control of model finances, and transparent record‑keeping around travel, accommodation and guardianship for minors are likely to attract closer scrutiny. In Brazil, any credible leads may activate UNTC‑coordinated mutual legal assistance; in the US, consular and immigration records linked to petitions and cancellations could be probative. Further US Department of Justice releases are expected to add volume but not always clarity, increasing the value of well‑documented survivor testimony. (mpf.mp.br)