House committee asks U.S. DOJ to examine sexual abuse allegations made by ex-Epstein assistant

WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

A U.S. congressional committee said Thursday it was advising the Justice Department of “criminal conduct” allegations concerning two men.

The group has spent months interviewing witnesses about what they knew about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and others in their orbit.

James Comer, the Kentucky Republican leading the House oversight committee, said the referrals made in a letter to acting attorney general Todd Blanche were based on allegations from an interview two weeks ago with Sarah Kellen, a former Epstein assistant. Four other House representatives signed on to the letter, all Republican members.

A referral for a criminal investigation does not force the Justice Department into any action, legally speaking. But Blanche testified late last month in the Senate that the department would be open to “evidence that supports in any way, shape or form that we can make a case.”

The transcript for Kellen interview was released on Thursday, her first substantive comments about her time with the late Epstein and his former girlfriend Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence on federal charges including sex trafficking.

Kellen has been portrayed in contrasting terms since Epstein’s federal indictment in 2019 brought heightened scrutiny around the wealthy sex offender’s world.

Unlike many of the now-adult women who allege suffering abuse by Maxwell and Epstein, Kellen was not a minor when she met them. She has been named an Epstein co-conspirator in criminal cases in both Florida and New York, as well as a defendant in civil litigation filed by other alleged victims.

Carolyn Andriano, a witness at the Maxwell trial, testified that when she was 14 or 15, Kellen arranged Epstein massages that included sexual abuse, even taking nude photographs on occasion. Andriano died in 2023; other victims have publicly questioned Kellen’s claim to being a victim herself and have talked about her facilitating his massages.

Here are some takeaways from the transcript of Kellen’s interview.

Alleged repeated assaults

Kellen described herself as susceptible to Epstein’s predations, having been raised a Jehovah’s Witness “required to submit to and obey men.” She met Epstein at 22 in Los Angeles toward the “end of 2001.”

“I had no money, no family, no education and no sense that I deserved better.”

She alleged that Epstein first sexually assaulted her on his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and that subsequent assaults were sometimes violent. She estimated the alleged abuse as being “on a weekly basis” over time.

She portrayed Epstein as a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality who could be charming and solicitous. He offered to pay off her considerable credit card debt upon first meeting her, and even after she got engaged, Epstein wired money when she and her then-husband were dealing with costly home renovations.

But she said he also made implicit threats about going public with any allegations, dictated her look, and made her sign a non-disclosure agreement. When he served a prison sentence on state charges in Florida, she said, he Skyped her while in custody and encouraged her to undress, to which she agreed.

Kellen said Epstein paid her between $25,000 US to $100,000 US per year over the course of their decade-long association and travelled extensively with him and Maxwell, meeting several famous people.

Accuses French photographer, Fla. politician

Kellen said she met Epstein through French photographer Frédéric Fekkai, who portrayed Epstein to her as a Victoria’s Secret scout.

She said she originally met Fekkai at a Neiman Marcus in late 2000 or early 2001 when she was living in Honolulu. Fekkai, she said, arranged for her to travel to Maui on the pretext of a fashion show that didn’t exist.

“I didn’t have any money to get my own hotel room or fly back, and he took advantage of me that night,” she told the panel.

Fekkai “was astonished” by and denied her claims, his legal representative recently told CNN.

Kellen also alleged that Philip Levine, a businessman and former Miami Beach mayor, “basically forced himself on me” in St. Tropez, France, in 2002 or 2003. She said that while Epstein and Maxwell were present on the property at the time, neither “facilitated” the alleged abuse.

Levine has previously admitted to the Miami Herald of being a onetime acquaintance of Maxwell, while downplaying an association to Epstein other than brief public encounters.

According to a report Thursday from MS Now, Levine’s legal representatives said in a statement that “nearly a quarter-century ago, our client had a brief intimate encounter with another consenting adult. Any allegation suggesting otherwise is not true.”

Didn’t realize she was named co-conspirator

The non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty in 2008 to lesser state charges in Florida and serve just 13 months behind bars also shielded Kellen and three other women from prosecution.

Kellen said in her interview she had no advance consultation about being named a co-conspirator.

“No one from law enforcement ever spoke with me, ever heard my side, ever asked me a single question,” she said of the Florida-based Epstein investigators.

She said that remained the case until after Epstein’s death in custody, when federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York began investigating Maxwell in 2019.

Read the interview with Sarah Kellen:

Opposed to Maxwell clemency

Kellen alleged that Maxwell sexually abused her at age 22, also at Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

While it’s hard to judge from a transcript — the interview wasn’t recorded on video — Kellen at times appeared to express more enmity toward Maxwell than Epstein.

“I feel like she kind of taught and shaped Jeffrey into who he became.”

When Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi asked how many people she believed Maxwell may have abused, Kellen replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t witness anything but my own abuse with her.”

Kellen agreed with Krishnamoorthi’s statement that Maxwell “does not deserve any form of clemency.”

Some legislators have worried about that possibility, as Maxwell was transferred to what many believed was a less severe federal institution shortly after interviewing with Blanche last summer. U.S. President Donald Trump has also never outright rejected the possibility of a Maxwell commutation.

Asked about alleged abuse by high-profile men

Kimberly Hamm, Kellen’s lawyer, reminded the panel from the outset that Kellen would not answer questions about “other persons’ victimization.” Hamm cited Kellen’s mental trauma from her years with Epstein and “concerns about the private rights of individuals including my client.”

However, Kellen was asked specifically about whether she witnessed any improper behaviour from a long list of names who came into contact with Epstein, denying this was the case for all. The list included Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Sergey Brin, Elon Musk and Ehud Barak.

Kellen said that while she was on flights on Epstein’s private jet that took Bill Clinton and others around the world, she never witnessed anything untoward. She could not assess what Clinton and Epstein discussed on the flights, and believed they were friendly but not especially chummy, consistent with the former U.S. president’s Epstein interview earlier this year.

Kellen said she briefly met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, in the company of Epstein and others, for about five minutes.

She also said she couldn’t recall meeting Virginia Giuffre, the late, high-profile accuser of Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor, who has denied Giuffre’s sexual assault claims. Kellen’s and Giuffre’s given Epstein employment timelines only overlap by several months.