Even if the reason was despair and depression after being held a year in jail, this is going to raise questions (e.g. Why wasn’t he on suicide watch?) and feed the rumour mill.  Bloody hell.

Jean-Luc Brunel: Epstein associate found dead in Paris prison cell

A French modelling agent and close associate of the late US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in his prison cell in Paris.

Jean-Luc Brunel was found hanged in his cell in La Santé prison at 01:00 on Saturday, prosecutors told the BBC.

The 76-year-old had been held for over a year as he was investigated on suspicion of the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.

[. . .]

Brunel was detained at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport in December 2020 as he was trying to board a flight to Senegal.

His arrest was part of a French inquiry into sex trafficking and sexual assault allegations against Epstein, focusing on potential crimes committed against French victims and suspects who are French citizens.

Prosecutors suspected Brunel of raping, sexually assaulting and sexually harassing multiple minors and adults. They also suspected him of transporting and housing young girls or young women for Epstein.