A modelling agent who was close to Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in his jail cell in France.
Jean-Luc Brunel was being held in an investigation into the rape and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.
Paris police are investigating the death.
A lawyer representing Mr Brunel had previously said that the modelling agent contested the accusations brought against him.
Mr Brunel was detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris in 2020 as part of a probe that resulted from the sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein.
Similarly, Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in New York in 2019 while he was awaiting trial.
Mr Brunel was considered a central component of the French investigation into Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of women and girls.
Epstein was known to travel to France frequently and owned property in the capital.
The French probe was opened in 2019 and led to several women coming forward identifying themselves as victims.
Thysia Huisman, a victim, said the news of Mr Brunel's death made her "angry".
She said: "It makes me angry, because I've been fighting for years," Huisman, a Dutch former model who told police she was raped by Brunel as a teenager, told The Associated Press.
"For me, the end of this was to be in court. And now that whole ending, which would help form closure, is taken away from me."
A lawyer representing victims, including Ms Huisman and Anne-Claire Lejeune, said other women involved in the case also feel angry.
She told Associated Press: "Great disappointment, great frustration that (the victims) won't get justice."
She said there is now doubt that the investigation will lead to a trial because Mr Brunel was so central to the case and said she is now concerned that the women she represents will not get official recognition of their status as victims.
"To rebuild yourself (after abuse), that is one of the essential steps," Ms Huisman said.
She said she hoped that the agent's death would not discourage women from speaking out about abuse.
Ms Huisman said the investigation has "freed up women to talk about it".
She added: "It's a difficult step that requires a lot of courage and strength."
