A groundbreaking BBC investigation has uncovered systematic exploitation within the modeling industry, revealing how disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Jean-Luc Brunel operated a transnational recruitment network targeting vulnerable South American teenagers.
The pattern emerges through multiple victim accounts. Gláucia Fekete, now reflecting on her narrow escape from Brunel’s advances in 2004, describes how the French modeling agent visited her family home in rural Brazil when she was just 16. Brunel, who later died by suicide while facing rape and sex trafficking charges, successfully persuaded Fekete’s mother to let her travel to Ecuador for a modeling competition without parental accompaniment.
During the Models New Generation event in Guayaquil—where participants ranged from 15 to 19 years old—Fekete noticed disturbing patterns. Contestants were prohibited from contacting their families, and Brunel exhibited peculiar behavior specifically around younger Brazilian girls. ‘He was behaving like a clown and only hanging out with quite young girls,’ recalled ‘Laura,’ a Western European contestant who noted Brunel seemed to target financially vulnerable Eastern European and Brazilian participants.
US Department of Justice documents confirm Epstein was in Guayaquil during the competition’s finals. Flight records indicate at least one underage attendee subsequently traveled on Epstein’s private aircraft.
The investigation further reveals how Brunel’s modeling agencies—Karin Models of America and later MC2 in America—served as fronts for visa sponsorship. ‘Ana,’ another Brazilian victim, provided documentation showing Brunel’s agency arranged her U.S. visa despite her never working as a model. The sole purpose: visiting Epstein.
Ana’s harrowing account details how a Brazilian madam recruited her with false modeling promises, then trafficked her to Epstein. The financier tested her compliance through financial manipulation—leaving money in her room to see if she would return it—before arranging international travel. Brunel facilitated this mobility through fraudulent employment documentation.
Court records and former MC2 employee testimony confirm Epstein financially backed Brunel’s U.S. operations and paid for visas arranged through these agencies. The network specifically targeted minors from South America, with a former MC2 accountant verifying a Brazilian madam who supplied girls to both Epstein and Brunel.
Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has now launched an investigation into potential Epstein-linked recruitment networks. Federal prosecutor Cinthia Gabriela Borges emphasizes the inquiry focuses on network operators rather than victims. Legal experts suggest these crimes may not be subject to statutes of limitations, potentially holding Brazilian accomplices accountable decades later.
Both Fekete and Ana consider themselves fortunate—the former for her mother’s intervention, the latter for escaping Epstein’s circle and rebuilding her life. Their testimonies expose a predatory system that exploited aspiring models through sophisticated international trafficking mechanisms.