House committee asks US DOJ to investigate sexual assault allegations made by former Epstein aide
WARNING: This article may concern those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has.
A US congressional committee said on Thursday it was advising the Justice Department of “conduct” allegations involving two men.
The group has spent months interviewing witnesses about what they know about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and others on their trail.
James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who heads the House House Judiciary Committee, said the letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was based on an alleged conversation two weeks ago with Sarah Kellen, a former Epstein aide. Four other House representatives signed the letter, all Republicans.
The referral of a criminal investigation does not compel the Department of Justice to take any action, legally speaking. But Blanche testified late last month in the Senate that the door would be opened to “evidence that supports in any way, shape or form that we can impeach.”
A transcript of Kellen’s interview was released Thursday, his first concrete comments about his time with the late Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for charges including sex trafficking.
Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi drew the ire of Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors after she gave sealed testimony about her handling of sex-related documents.
Kellen was portrayed differently as Epstein’s trial in 2019 brought intense scrutiny around the world of the wealthy.
Unlike many of the older women who now say they were abused by Maxwell and Epstein, Kellen was not young when she met them. He has been named as Epstein’s guardian in criminal cases in Florida and New York, and as a defendant in civil lawsuits filed by other alleged victims.
Carolyn Andriano, a witness in Maxwell’s trial, testified that when she was 14 or 15 years old, Kellen arranged for Epstein to have massages that included sexual assault, and even occasional nude photography. Andriano died in 2023; other victims have publicly questioned Kellen’s claim that she is a victim herself and that she facilitated her abuse.
Here are some takeaways from the transcript of Kellen’s interview.
Allegations of repeated attacks
Kellen described herself as being at risk of being raped by Epstein, as she was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness who “must be humble and listen to people.” She met Epstein at the age of 22 in Los Angeles in late 2001.
“I had no money, no family, no education and no idea that I deserved better.”
She testified that Epstein first sexually assaulted her on his private island in the US Virgin Islands and that subsequent attacks were sometimes violent. He estimated the abuse allegations as happening “every week” over time.
He portrayed Epstein as a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality who could be likable and passionate. He offered to pay off her huge credit card debt when she first met him, and even after they got engaged, Epstein used the ropes when she and her then-husband were dealing with expensive home renovations.
But she said he also made blatant threats about going public with any allegations, told her what she looked like, and made her sign a non-disclosure agreement. While he was serving a prison sentence on federal charges in Florida, she said, he used Skype with her while incarcerated and encouraged her to strip, which she admitted.
Kellen said Epstein paid her between $25,000 and $100,000 US a year during their decade-long relationship and traveled extensively with Maxwell, meeting several famous people.
Suspects a photographer from France, Fla
Kellen said she met Epstein through French photographer Frédéric Fekkai, who introduced Epstein to her as a Victoria’s Secret spy.
He said he first met Fekkai at Neiman Marcus in late 2000 or early 2001 while living in Honolulu. He said Fekkai arranged for her to go to Maui because of a fashion show that wasn’t happening.
“I didn’t have money to get my hotel room or fly back, and he helped me that night,” he told the team.
Fekkai was “surprised” and denied his claims, his lawyer recently told CNN.
Kellen also alleged that Philip Levine, a businessman and former mayor of Miami Beach, “forced himself on me” in St. Louis. Tropez, France, in 2002 or 2003. He said that while Epstein and Maxwell were in the area at the time, there was no “facilitation” of the allegations of abuse.
Levine previously admitted to the Miami Herald that he was familiar with Maxwell, while downplaying Epstein’s association outside of brief public meetings.
According to a Thursday report from MS Now, Levine’s legal representatives said in a statement that “nearly a century ago, our client had a brief encounter with a consensual adult. Any allegations to the contrary are untrue.”
I didn’t know you were named as a co-conspirator
A non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser charges in Florida in 2008 and serve 13 months in prison, shielded Kellen and three other women from prosecution.
Kellen said in his interview that he did not negotiate beforehand about being named as a co-conspirator.
“No one in law enforcement ever talked to me, never heard my side, never asked me a single question,” he said of Epstein’s Florida-based investigators.
He said that remained the case until Epstein’s death in custody, when prosecutors for the Southern District of New York began investigating Maxwell in 2019.
Read an interview with Sarah Kellen:
Maxwell opposed clemency
Kellen alleges Maxwell sexually assaulted her when she was 22, and on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.
Although it’s hard to judge from the text — the interview was not recorded on video — Kellen sometimes seemed to express more hostility toward Maxwell than Epstein.
“I feel like you taught and shaped Jeffrey into who he was.”
The former American president Bill Clinton told the committee in charge of the House about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, insisting from the beginning that he did nothing wrong and had no knowledge of the crime committed by the deceased, who was convicted of sex crimes during their relationship.
When Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi asked how many people he believed Maxwell may have abused, Kellen replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t see anything but my abuse with him.”
Kellen agreed with Krishnamoorthi’s statement that Maxwell “doesn’t deserve any kind of sympathy.”
Some legislators are worried about that possibility, as Maxwell was transferred to what many believe was a sensitive government agency shortly after negotiating with Blanche last summer. US President Donald Trump has also never completely ruled out the possibility of replacing Maxwell.
Asked about allegations of harassment by high-ranking men
Kimberly Hamm, Kellen’s attorney, reminded the panel early on that Kellen would not answer questions about “the abuse of other people.” Hamm cited Kellen’s psychological trauma from her years with Epstein and “concerns about people’s privacy rights including my client.”
However, Kellen was directly asked if he had seen any inappropriate behavior in the long list of names he met with Epstein, denying that this was the case for all of them. The list included Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Sergey Brin, Elon Musk and Ehud Barak.
Kellen said that when he was on Epstein’s private jet that took Bill Clinton and others around the world, he saw nothing untoward. He was unable to verify what Clinton and Epstein discussed on the planes, and believes they were friendly but not particularly romantic, consistent with an interview with former US president Epstein earlier this year.
Kellen said he met briefly with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, accompanied by Epstein and others, for about five minutes.
He also said he did not recall meeting Virginia Giuffre, the late Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor’s top accuser, who denied Giuffre’s sexual abuse allegations. The employment periods of Kellen and Giuffre given by Epstein only overlapped by a few months.
