A woman who worked as a personal assistant to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has testified that Epstein violently raped her and maintained that abuse even while he was behind bars. Sarah Kellen, previously under criminal investigation as a co-conspirator but never charged, claimed she was a victim trapped inside Epstein's world for more than two decades.
Kellen, 46, testified before the House Oversight Committee on May 21, according to a transcript released Friday. She recounted how before meeting Epstein, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by French celebrity hairstylist Frederic Fekkai and former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine when she was in her 20s. Fekkai introduced her to Epstein, whom he described as a scout for Victoria's Secret. Epstein flew her to Los Angeles for a casting call where she stripped to her bra and underwear, only to discover he was actually a money manager.
She was eventually hired as an unpaid assistant to Epstein and Maxwell. Kellen testified that Epstein groomed, sexually and psychologically abused, controlled, manipulated, dominated, and gaslit her until she could no longer distinguish her own thoughts from his. He reminded her daily of his power and influence, threatening that turning on him would mean losing everything: her job, home, everyone she knew, even her life.
After months of unpaid labor, Epstein instructed her to draw him a bath on his private island, then ordered her to undress and get in with him, saying, 'The job is yours.' She testified that only after confirming she would submit to his sexual abuse did he begin paying her a mere $25,000 a year for working non-stop, on-call 24/7, months at a time with no days off. Maxwell allegedly called her their 'slave and minion.'
Kellen told the committee, 'I understood the math exactly. I was being paid, in part, to be raped.' She recounted one attack in a Palm Beach gym where Epstein blasted music to drown out noise, choked her, and violently raped her. The abuse continued while Epstein served an 18-month sentence in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor. He Skyped her from a computer inside the Palm Beach County Stockade and ordered her to undress on camera.
The years under Epstein and Maxwell left Kellen with post-traumatic stress disorder. She said psychological conditions hampered her ability to identify emotions, differentiate reality from Epstein's manipulated reality, and crippled her from making decisions or asserting agency.
Previously, she was named as a lieutenant who served as Epstein's scheduler and a recruiter or procurer of girls, according to a 2010 docket released by the Department of Justice. She told the U.K. Sun in 2020 that she was raped and abused weekly and that depictions of her as a monster are not true.
Regarding her accusations against Fekkai and Levine, Committee Chair James Comer noted in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the committee is not a law enforcement entity and would refer allegations to the Department of Justice. A spokesperson for Levine said the encounter was a brief intimate encounter with another consenting adult, denying any misconduct. Fekkai's spokesperson also denied the allegations, stating Fekkai never abused anyone and knew nothing about Epstein's depravity.
