Paris |A former French modelling agent who had been charged with the rape of minors and was suspected of scouting young women for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Paris jail cell, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor said on Saturday, in what appeared to be a suicide.

Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, was found hanging overnight in his cell at La Santé, a prison in southern Paris, according to a French official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because an investigation had been opened. Brunel’s death echoed that of Epstein, who hanged himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.