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His death was the latest in a series of developments in that scandal. This week, Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, settled a lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused the British royal of raping her when she was a teenager. In December, Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s former companion, was convicted of conspiring with him to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls.

Mr. Brunel carved out a successful career as a modeling agent in France in the 1970s, before expanding his portfolio to the United States, where he met and befriended Mr. Epstein. The two often traveled together and socialized in the same circles before having a falling out as the sex-trafficking accusations against Mr. Epstein emerged.

At least one of Mr. Epstein’s accusers has said that Mr. Brunel used his position as a modeling scout to procure minors for Mr. Epstein, who owned an apartment in an upscale Parisian neighborhood and traveled regularly to France.

In filings in a federal court in New York, Ms. Giuffre said that Mr. Brunel would offer modeling jobs to girls — some as young as 12 — and take them to the United States to “farm them out to his friends, especially Epstein.”

But Mr. Brunel has faced direct accusations of abuse himself. Ms. Giuffre said that Mr. Epstein sexually trafficked her to Mr. Brunel on “numerous occasions and in numerous places,” including the south of France, according to court records.