6,800 km From Epstein Island, His Paris Lair Surfaces With Disturbing Details

Paris is nearly 6,800 kilometres from the Caribbean island of Little St James --  a journey that would take roughly eight hours by a transatlantic flight, crossing continents and oceans. Yet what happened inside a grand apartment on Avenue Foch, one of the most expensive residential streets in Europe, may form part of the network of exploitation that made disgraced financier and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's private island infamous.

The building stands a short walk, about five minutes on foot, from the Champs-Elyses. From certain windows inside, the Arc de Triomphe dominates the Parisian skyline. The address signals old-world privilege but previously unpublished photographs released by the French newspaper Le Parisien reveal an interior that authorities suspect may have been used for sexual abuse and trafficking. 

The photographs show an 18-room residence saturated in red, orange and pink tones.

The images were taken during a 2019 investigation into alleged rapes committed in the apartment by Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modelling agent and long-time associate of Epstein. Brunel, who denied wrongdoing, died in a Paris prison in 2022 while awaiting trial for the rape of a minor and for trafficking allegations involving girls as young as 12. Authorities said he hanged himself with bed sheets in his cell.

The photographs show an 18-room residence saturated in red, orange and pink tones. Walls are covered with framed images of naked or semi-naked young women. One picture shows Epstein himself lying beside two topless women. Another room contains a massage table beneath dim lighting and drawers containing sex toys.

Walls are covered with framed images of naked or semi-naked young women.

Inside The Avenue Foch Apartment

French prosecutors suspect the red-walled massage room may have been the scene of sexual assaults. Other rooms display an unusual combination of luxury furnishings and animal motifs. A stuffed elephant calf stands among the decor. A stuffed vulture is placed nearby. An armchair covered with faux tiger skin is decorated with antelope and ram horns.

The apartment includes a study lined with red leather walls, a sauna, and a gym. A round reception room -- referred to as the "rotunda" -- overlooks the Arc de Triomphe and contains a bearskin rug on the floor. Several bedrooms have thematic colour schemes. One is known as the "Chinese room", decorated with red wallpaper featuring dragon motifs and portraits of Chinese emperors. Another is referred to as the "pink room". A further bedroom contains twin beds and is more subdued in decoration.

Epstein purchased the property in 2001 and visited Paris more than 170 times over the years. Police believe the apartment functioned as his European base, sometimes used by associates including Brunel. French authorities suspect Epstein relied on a Paris-based network to procure young women during his stays.

After Epstein's death in a New York jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, the apartment was eventually sold in 2022 for more than $10m by a French company owned by his estate to Bulgarian plastics businessman Georgi Tuchev.

Jean-Luc Brunel And The Modelling Network

Brunel's relationship with Epstein dates back at least two decades. Flight logs show Brunel travelled on Epstein's private jet in 2002 from Florida to the Bahamas. Jail records show he visited Epstein while the financier was serving a 13-month sentence in Florida for procuring an underage girl for prostitution.

Brunel owned MC2 Model Management, an agency whose president named several major US retailers, including Nordstrom and Macy's, as clients during the period when allegations of trafficking were circulating around Epstein and his circle.

Brunel's relationship with Epstein dates back at least two decades.

According to a sworn deposition by a former company bookkeeper, Brunel also housed models in Epstein's Manhattan apartments. French investigators consider Brunel a key figure in understanding how young women may have been recruited and transported across borders.

At least three women have testified that they were abused by Epstein or his associates on French soil. A child-protection organisation, Innocence en Danger, says it has received around ten accounts of alleged sex crimes linked to Epstein in France. But the true number of victims may be significantly higher, reports state. 

New Investigations 

The renewed focus on the Paris apartment comes after the US Department of Justice released millions of documents linked to Epstein. French prosecutors have opened two new investigations -- one into alleged human trafficking and another into potential financial crimes.

The fallout has already reached French public life. Jack Lang, an 86-year-old former culture minister and a prominent political figure, resigned as head of the Arab World Institute in Paris after being placed under investigation over suspected tax fraud linked to alleged financial dealings with Epstein. Lang has denied wrongdoing, and there is no suggestion he was involved in sexual misconduct.

Beyond Paris

While the Paris apartment is geographically distant from Epstein's Caribbean holdings, investigators see potential operational links.

Nearly 3,000 kilometres from Washington DC, southeast of St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, lies Little St James, a 72-acre island Epstein purchased in 1998 for about $8m. Over time he transformed it into a private compound with multiple villas, pools, a helipad, staff quarters and desalination systems.

By 2010 the island had been extensively renovated, including the construction of a distinctive blue-and-white striped structure sometimes referred to as a "temple". Building records described it as a music pavilion, though architectural differences prompted speculation.

Photographs released by the US House Oversight Committee show bedrooms, living spaces, landscaped grounds and a yellow dentist's chair which has attracted significant attention.