NANTERRE, France (NBC) – French police launched a fresh appeal Friday for witnesses and victims to come forward to aid their probe of Jeffrey Epstein and allegations that one of the financier’s associates drugged and raped young models.
The appeal was longer and more detailed than a previous, more limited call for evidence that police had made previously on Facebook and Twitter on September 11th.
The new appeal, this time translated by the police into English, said, “Given the complexity of the case and its international implications, we are once again asking victims and witnesses to come forward.”
It said police were “mobilized and ready to receive statements from victims and witnesses of sexual harassment or assault” and urged “anyone with information to come forward, regardless of when the incident occurred, what the circumstances were and who was involved.”
The amplified appeal came after women who say they were raped and sexually assaulted by one of Epstein’s associates, French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, said they were disappointed with the limited scope of police efforts to track down witnesses.
Brunel has denied wrongdoing and has said via his lawyer he was willing to talk to investigators.
The new appeal, as was also the case in September, does not name Brunel. Instead, is says police were investigating “the conduct of Jeffrey Epstein and his connections.”
One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has alleged Brunel procured women, some of them minors, for sex with Epstein and other people, luring them with promises of modeling work.
Police commissioner Philippe Guichard, whose office is leading the probe, acknowledged that their September appeal for witnesses, worded only in French, had limited impact.
He insisted that his Central Bureau for Violent Crime was “completely invested” in the probe and hoped to reach anyone with knowledge of crimes committed either in France or abroad by French people.
The French probe was launched in August after Epstein took his own life while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
So far, police have questioned eight alleged victims of rape and other abuse, and four other people who said they were witnesses and have more hearings scheduled.
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