“If I had disobeyed my mother and gone to New York, what might have happened to me?” asks Gláucia Fekete. In 2004, she was a 16-year-old living in rural Brazil and beginning a career in modelling. Around that time, French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel visited her family home, trying to persuade her mother to allow her to travel to Ecuador for a modelling contest. Don’t miss the latest headlines from Thailand and around the world. Get the Asean Now Briefing newsletter, delivered daily. Sign up here. Brunel later died in prison while awaiting trial on charges of rape, sexual assault and trafficking girls for the late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, Gláucia and her family did not know who Brunel was. They had been introduced through a well-known Brazilian modelling scout. A BBC News Brasil investigation has found evidence that Brunel used modelling agencies connected to him to recruit young women and girls from South America for Epstein. The investigation also uncovered records suggesting visas were arranged for some of them to travel to the United States. Another Brazilian woman, who says she had a relationship with Epstein, showed the BBC a US visa listing one of Brunel’s agencies as her sponsor. She says she never worked as a model for the agency and that the paperwork existed only so she could visit Epstein. Gláucia’s mother, Barbara, initially had doubts about Brunel, but she remembers him as “very charming.” Eventually she allowed her daughter to travel to Ecuador without her. The teenager went with Brunel’s team to Guayaquil for the Models New Generation competition. Local newspapers at the time reported contestants were aged between 15 and 19. Gláucia says the event itself appeared normal, but she became uneasy when she was not allowed to contact her family. Another contestant, a 16-year-old from Western Europe who asked not to be identified and is referred to as Laura, also recalls feeling uncomfortable around Brunel. “It was strange how he behaved and how he was always around the young Brazilian girls,” she says. “He was acting like a clown and only hanging out with quite young girls.” Laura believes the competition itself was legitimate and well organised, but says Brunel seemed to focus on girls he considered vulnerable. “He appeared to control their finances,” she says. “The girls from Brazil and Eastern Europe seemed to be the main targets.” Near the end of the trip, Brunel offered to fly Gláucia to New York to participate in modelling shows, with all expenses paid. At that point, he needed permission from her mother. Barbara’s answer was immediate. “No. Not a chance,” she says now. “They were looking for children, minors. Unfortunately they found my daughter.” She cut off all contact with Brunel’s network and forbade Gláucia from continuing in modelling. Looking back, Gláucia says it may have saved her from something far worse. “It really was a narrow escape,” she says. Documents released by the US government and reviewed by BBC News Brasil show that Epstein was in Guayaquil on 24 and 25 August 2004 — the same time the modelling competition’s final took place. Records also indicate that at least one model under 16 who attended the event flew on Epstein’s plane at least twice that year. “Without knowing it, I was in the middle of that storm,” Gláucia says. “My mother saved me.” “He chose me”Another Brazilian woman, identified here as Ana to protect her identity, says Brunel and his modelling network played a role in facilitating her relationship with Epstein. Ana says she was recruited in the early 2000s in São Paulo by a Brazilian woman who promised modelling opportunities. According to Ana, the reality was very different. When she arrived in São Paulo, the woman took her documents and told her she owed money for travel and photos. Ana says she soon realised there was no modelling work at all. “She was a madam,” Ana says. “Before I knew it, she was pimping me out.” One of the clients, she says, was Jeffrey Epstein. A few weeks after her 18th birthday, the woman brought her to the home of a wealthy businessman in São Paulo. Ana says she heard him describe Epstein as “the king of the world” and say that “he likes younger girls.” Days later, she says she and two other women were taken to a luxury hotel in the city where Epstein would choose one of them. “He chose me,” she says. Ana says Epstein asked her to remove her clothes and watched while touching himself. “His thing was watching me while he touched himself,” she says. “It was disgusting, but of all evils, the lesser one.” US Department of Justice files, including emails and flight records, confirm Epstein was in Brazil around that time. Ana says she later attended a party where she first met Brunel. Soon afterward, Brunel became involved in arranging a US visa for her. The visa listed Brunel’s modelling agency in New York — Karin Models of America — as the sponsor. Ana says she never worked for the agency and believes the visa was simply arranged so she could travel to see Epstein. Court records and US Department of Justice files indicate Brunel used his agencies, including Karin Models of America and later MC2, to recruit girls from several countries, including minors. A former MC2 employee testified that Epstein paid for visas arranged through Brunel’s agency in the United States. Before his death, Brunel denied wrongdoing. His lawyers said he had been “crushed” by the allegations and blamed what they called a hostile “media-judicial system.” Ana says she travelled with Epstein to the United States and France for about four months. She describes him as sometimes “affectionate,” saying he even paid for English lessons. She says her US visa was eventually cancelled in Miami after authorities questioned who was paying for her work and travel. Before that, she says she had visited the US at least six times to spend time with him. Ana says she also visited Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands and believed he considered her his girlfriend until she discovered him with another woman. “Until then, it hadn’t sunk in that he did this with many girls,” she says. She says they had sex once and that he often wanted affection — “sleeping, spooning, cuddling and having his feet massaged.” Ana recalls Epstein once telling her that Brunel had asked to sleep with her but that he refused. “I didn’t let him because you’re mine,” she says Epstein told her. The comment left her unsure how to feel. “I didn’t know whether to be grateful or more terrified,” she says. After that, she says Brunel seemed to watch her “like a wolf looking at a lamb.” Ana says Epstein had agreed to pay the Brazilian woman who recruited her $10,000 for the first meeting and the trip to Paris, though she says he only paid part of it. Testimony from a former MC2 accountant given in a Florida court case in 2010 refers to a Brazilian woman who arranged girls for Epstein and Brunel and later complained about unpaid money. Ana says that after her documents were returned, contact with the recruiter faded, though she continued seeing Epstein for some time. He later offered to arrange a green card for her to live in the United States, she says, but she declined because she wanted to stay close to her family in Brazil. Investigation into recruitment networkBrazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation in February into whether a recruitment network connected to Epstein operated in the country. Federal prosecutor Cinthia Gabriela Borges, from the national anti-trafficking unit, told the BBC she hopes to speak with women who had contact with Epstein to understand how the system worked. The women themselves are not the targets of the investigation. Labour inspector and researcher Maurício Krepsky says the allegations could amount to human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Crimes of that nature may not be subject to a statute of limitations, meaning those involved could still face accountability. Gláucia says she remains grateful her mother refused Brunel’s offer years ago. And after rebuilding her life, Ana says she now considers herself fortunate to have escaped Epstein’s circle. “I think I was lucky,” she says. “But I feel for the other women.” Join the discussion? Already a member? Adapted by ASEAN Now · Source · 12.03 2026
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