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- Les Wexner, CEO of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands, said he "completely severed" ties with Jeffrey Epstein 12 years ago.
- However, according to Bloomberg, the lingerie giant continued to work with a modeling agency that was once accused of supplying Epstein with underage girls.
- In 2015, Epstein accuser victim Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre) said in court filings that Jean-Luc Brunel, an international modeling scout and the owner of MC2 Model Management, had supplied Epstein with dozens of underage girls.
- According to Bloomberg, three MC2 models walked in Victoria’s Secret’s 2015 fashion show, and the agency’s models were at auditions in 2017 and 2018.
- Representatives for L Brands and MC2 Model Management did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
- L Brands recently hired an outside law firm to review its relationship with Epstein.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Les Wexner may have cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein 12 years ago, but Victoria’s Secret reportedly continued to work with a modeling agency for years after it was accused of supplying Epstein with underage girls. Epstein is currently facing sex-trafficking charges.
In 2015, Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre) said in court filings that Jean-Luc Brunel, an international modeling scout and the owner of MC2 Model Management, had supplied Epstein with dozens of underage girls to feed his and Ghislaine Maxwell’s "strong appetite for sex with minors." Maxwell has been accused of acting as Epstein’s madame, recruiting underage girls and abusing them alongside him.
"[Brunel] appeared to have an arrangement with the U.S. Government where he could get passports or other travel documents for young girls. He would then bring these young girls (girls ranging in age from 12 to 24) to the United States for sexual purposes and farm them out to his friends, including Epstein," Giuffre said in the lawsuit.
According to Bloomberg, Epstein also once had a $1 million investment in MC2 Model Management.
Giuffre said in court filings that she had sexual intercourse with Brunel on several occasions, when she was between the ages of 16 and 18.
"He was another of Epstein’s powerful friends who had many contacts with young girls throughout the world," she said.
Brunel later tried to sue Epstein, alleging that he had been unfairly caught up in his legal troubles, but the case was dismissed.
Victoria’s Secret continued to work with MC2-represented models after Wexner severed ties with Epstein, Bloomberg reported.
"Three MC2 models walked in Victoria’s Secret’s 2015 fashion show, and the agency’s models were at auditions in 2017 and 2018. They’ve also posed for its catalogs and website," Bloomberg wrote.
Representatives for L Brands and MC2 Model Management did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
Last week, L Brands confirmed to Business Insider that its board of directors had hired an outside law firm to review its relationship with Epstein.
An L Brands spokeswoman said that while Epstein was Wexner’s personal money manager, "we do not believe he was ever employed by nor served as an authorized representative of the company."
"Mr. Epstein’s crimes are abhorrent, and we applaud every effort to bring justice to those harmed," she said.
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See Also:
- How Victoria’s Secret head Les Wexner went from small-town Ohio shopkeeper to facing scrutiny for his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
- Jeffrey Epstein reportedly lived the life of a billionaire thanks to hand-me-downs from Victoria’s Secret head Les Wexner
- Jeffrey Epstein reportedly tried to meddle in selecting Victoria’s Secret models, and now the firm is investigating
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)