Zoe Brock was just 17, a cheeky, adventurous kid from New Zealand chasing modeling dreams in Paris, when her agency sent her straight to the lavish Avenue Hoche apartment of powerful scout Jean-Luc Brunel—promising it was the “safest” place for a young girl. Instead, she and other underage models bunked in cramped maid’s quarters, constantly dodging his aggressive advances, cocaine offers, and late-night demands to party with wealthy friends. When she refused his insistence on sex, retaliation was swift: slandered, sidelined, and shipped off to grim accommodations. Fellow model Lorin Cole faced similar pressure in New York, rejecting Brunel’s coercion while tied to his agency and Epstein’s orbit. Their raw accounts expose how Brunel allegedly preyed on vulnerable teens living under his roof—girls funneled into a world where glamour masked exploitation. With Brunel now gone by suicide before trial, these survivors’ voices demand answers: who else knew, and how deep did the protection run?
Zoe Brock was just 17, a cheeky, adventurous kid from New Zealand chasing modeling dreams in Paris, when her agency sent her straight to the lavish Avenue Hoche apartment of powerful scout Jean-Luc Brunel—promising it was the “safest” place for a young girl. Instead, she and other underage models bunked in cramped maid’s quarters, constantly dodging his aggressive advances, cocaine offers, and late-night demands to party with wealthy friends. When she refused his insistence on sex, retaliation was swift: slandered, sidelined, and shipped off to grim accommodations. Fellow model Lorin Cole faced similar pressure in New York, rejecting Brunel’s coercion while tied to his agency and Epstein’s orbit. Their raw accounts expose how Brunel allegedly preyed on vulnerable teens living under his roof—girls funneled into a world where glamour masked exploitation. With Brunel now gone by suicide before trial, these survivors’ voices demand answers about the depth of complicity in the industry.
In 1991, Zoe Brock arrived in Paris from New Zealand, full of sass and excitement for her budding career. Her mother agency reassured her family that staying at Brunel’s elegant Avenue Hoche apartment—home to his influential Karin Models—was secure for a minor. She joined two or three other young models in the tiny maid’s quarters, where they shared warnings about a peephole from the kitchen into their shared bathroom. Brunel, then in his mid-40s, soon returned from travel and propositioned her directly: offering cocaine and declaring they would have sex “one of these days.” Brock took the drugs but avoided him afterward, steering clear of his bedroom summons.
Her resistance came at a cost. Brunel removed her from the apartment, sending her to a rundown flat in the Pigalle red-light district. He spread rumors labeling her a drug addict, damaging her reputation across Europe and drying up job opportunities. In interviews with The Guardian, Miami Herald, and others, Brock described him as a “vile little garden gnome” who exploited the girls he was meant to protect, pressuring them to party at nightclubs with his wealthy associates.
Lorin Cole, another model connected to Brunel’s network in New York, encountered parallel coercion. While working under his agency’s influence and orbiting Epstein’s circle, she rejected his advances and dinner demands. Brunel reportedly threatened her career, grabbing the phone to warn that refusing him meant no work. Cole described the pressure as escalating to absurdity before she pushed back.
These experiences unfolded amid Brunel’s long-standing ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who invested in Brunel’s MC2 agency and allegedly received girls from him. French authorities arrested Brunel in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle Airport on charges of rape of minors over 15, sexual harassment, and aggravated human trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation. Prosecutors suspected him of assaulting multiple victims and aiding Epstein’s operations.
Brunel denied the allegations. In February 2022, while awaiting trial in Paris’s La Santé Prison, he was found hanged in his cell at age 75, ruled a suicide—echoing Epstein’s 2019 death.
Brock expressed relief at his arrest and later “good riddance” upon his death, viewing him as irredeemable and unlikely to confess or name accomplices. Cole shared similar sentiments in media appearances. Their testimonies, alongside others, highlight how the fashion world’s allure concealed predation, with powerful agents exploiting vulnerable teens’ ambitions. Though Brunel’s suicide ended his trial, survivors like Brock and Cole continue speaking out, ensuring these accounts of abuse and retaliation endure as a call for greater scrutiny and protection in the industry.
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