(Bloomberg) -- Jean-Luc Brunel, owner of a modeling agency, is being detained for questioning in France as part of the country’s investigation into the role he may have played in luring underage girls into the late Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit.

Paris prosecutors said Brunel has been in custody since Wednesday as part of a probe opened last year. The man was detained at the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to board a plane to Dakar, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors say he faces charges related to rape and sexual assault on minors, sexual harassment and human trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.

A lawyer for Brunel didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Agence France-Presse reported on the detention of Brunel earlier on Thursday.

In the U.S., Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidante of Epstein, is in a New York jail awaiting a July 12 trial on sex-trafficking charges. She and Brunel are suspected of helping Epstein lure underage girls into his orbit. Epstein, who also faced sex-trafficking charges, killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.