Several of the biggest retailers in the U.S., including Nordstrom, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Ave., and Neiman Marcus, were named as previous clients by the president of a modeling agency with deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, as allegations of sex trafficking swirled around the financier and the firm.
Additionally, store officials five years ago were worried about Epstein’s association with the agency, according to an internal agency letter.
The agency, MC2 Model Management, is owned by industry veteran Jean-Luc Brunel. His relationship to Epstein—who committed suicide last week— is documented at least as far back as 2002, when flight logs place Brunel on Epstein’s private plane for a flight from Florida to the Bahamas. Jail logs show Brunel visited Epstein while he was serving a 13-month sentence for procuring an underage girl for prostitution. Brunel also housed models in Epstein’s Manhattan apartments, according to a sworn deposition by a former company bookkeeper.
By 2014, Brunel’s business partner Jeff Fuller was concerned that the relationship with Epstein could be damaging. In a letter reviewed by Bloomberg News, Fuller told Brunel that he was getting a “tremendous amount of worries from our clients” about the ties to Epstein, then went on to list as clients Nordstrom Inc., Macy’s Inc., Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney Co., Kohl’s Corp., Target Corp., Sears, and Belk.
The same year, a Nordstrom executive wrote a letter offering her “full and unqualified” support of Brunel’s application for a O-1 visa, the work permit the U.S. government awards to “extraordinary individuals.” – READ MORE