Epstein’s former personal assistant Sarah Kellen, who was once labeled as his “lieutenant” and named as a potential co-conspirator, now asserts she was actually his victim. Kellen has testified before the House Oversight Committee that she was groomed, controlled and “violently raped” by the disgraced financier for over 20 years.
According the New York Post, Kellen told the House Oversight Committee that the abuse played out across multiple locations, including Epstein’s private jet, known as the Lolita Express and his private island, Little Saint James. “This was not a vacation destination; it was isolation,” she said.
She also said that Epstein first tricked her into stripping during what she believed was a Victoria’s Secret casting call. “I had just got into my bra and underwear, and that seemed logical since it was a Victoria’s Secret casting, and I remember just like doing a little turn, turning around so he could see my body,” she recalled.
“Only after Jeffrey confirmed that I would submit to his sexual abuse did he begin paying me,” she said. “I understood the math exactly. I was being paid, in part, to be raped.”
One of the most disturbing incidents Kellen described took place at a Palm Beach gym, where Epstein “blasted the music so loud so no one could hear, choked me and violently raped me.” She also testified that the abuse did not stop even when Epstein began serving his 18-month jail sentence in 2008. “He even Skyped me from a computer inside the Palm Beach County Stockade and ordered me to undress for him on camera,” she said, adding that the call came “out of the blue.”
Epstein was found dead in a lower Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and the death was ruled a suicide, per the New York Post.
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Here are 5 things to know about her:
- Kellen who is now 46, was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and first met Epstein when he tricked her into stripping under the pretense of a Victoria’s Secret casting call.
- She worked as Epstein’s personal assistant starting in 2001, earning just $25,000 a year on call 24/7 and says she was only hired after she agreed to submit to his sexual abuse.
- She was previously named as a potential co-conspirator in Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution deal and described in DOJ files as his “scheduler and recruiter/procurer of girls” but she maintains she was a victim trapped in his world for over 20 years.
- Kellen says the years of abuse left her with PTSD and an inability to think for herself, with Epstein controlling even personal details like her haircut and hair color.
- Her testimony before the House Oversight Committee marks the first time she has publicly claimed she was sexually assaulted and Chair James Comer called it “by far the most substantive and productive interview” the committee had conducted in its Epstein investigation.
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Kellen also talked about Ghislaine Maxwell, calling her “mean and belittling” but added even she was terrified of Epstein. “I would witness him bring Ghislaine to tears, who I thought was the strongest, coldest woman I had met,” she said. Maxwell allegedly called both herself and Kellen Epstein’s “slave and minion.”
