House Oversight Committee members are at odds as their investigation of Jeffrey Epstein enters a new phase this week with Sarah Kellen’s transcribed interview and the question of whether to treat her as a victim or a co-conspirator — or both.
Kellen, along with Adriana Ross and Nadia Marcinko, who have alleged abuse at the hands of Epstein, were specifically named as “potential co-conspirators” as part of Epstein’s 2007 nonprosecution agreement with Florida federal prosecutors. In exchange for his pleading guilty to state crimes and fulfilling other conditions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida agreed not to pursue criminal charges against them.
Kellen and Marcinko later asserted their rights under the Fifth Amendment when each was deposed in civil litigation related to the allegations against Epstein.
“If you subpoenaed someone to testify before your committees and she tells you she is a victim, listen to her. Believe her.”
Jena-Lisa Jones
In 2018, Julie K. Brown’s explosive report on Epstein’s sex trafficking ring in the Miami Herald put the women in the spotlight and raised questions about their involvement in Epstein’s crimes. By 2019, after Epstein’s indictment by Manhattan federal prosecutors and his death in federal custody, media reports grouped them with Ghislaine Maxwell and included them among Epstein’s close female circle who perpetuated his abuse. One victim named Kellen in a lawsuit as Epstein’s “key lieutenant,” who recruited and arranged transportation for girls and scheduled massages for Epstein. Another Epstein victim, identified in documents as Jane Doe, told an FBI agent that Kellen took nude photographs of her at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, when she was 16.
Based on documents released by the Department of Justice, Kellen told the FBI and prosecutors that she was of age when she was introduced to Epstein and Maxwell with the promise of a job.
Memoranda of FBI and prosecutors’ interviews with Kellen reflect that she said that her relationship with both Epstein and Maxwell became sexual, and that on at least a handful of occasions, Epstein directed her to participate in sexual acts with others while they watched. She also has alleged that Epstein raped her. The sexual abuse stopped when she was older, but Kellen still felt controlled by Epstein. Kellen told investigators that every single decision she made went through him first, even how to dress and style her hair.
When the documentary “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich” was released in 2020, a spokesperson for Kellen told CBS News in a statement that Kellen had “scheduled appointments for Epstein and Maxwell ‘at their direction,’” that Epstein “sexually” and “psychologically” abused Kellen “for years,” and that she “deeply regrets that she had any part in it.” Susan Necheles, who represented Kellen, told The New York Times in December that Kellen “never did anything wrong and never had any intention of pleading to anything. She was a victim of Epstein.”
A lawyer for Kellen declined comment to MS NOW about the accusations against her.
Although Kellen’s name appears in more than 100 documents among the Epstein files, the Department of Justice redacted her name and image in others, which led to questions about why the DOJ was protecting her identity.
Brown, for her part, believes Kellen qualifies as a victim. In December, the reporter responded to a post on social media asking why Kellen has been “ignored” in recent public conversations despite her deep involvement in Epstein’s life. Brown replied, “Kellen’s name has been redacted because she was later deemed a victim. Epstein groomed a lot of his victims to become his assistants and recruiters, especially as they got older and he no longer wanted to have sex with them. By that time, many of them were truly in love with him, they were trapped, and had no place left to go. So they became his employees.”
Some Epstein survivors have also asked for understanding for other women who ended up in Epstein’s clutches. Jena-Lisa Jones, who says she was first abused by Epstein when she was 14, seemingly referred to Kellen’s upcoming testimony when she spoke at the field hearing held by House Oversight Democrats on May 12.
“If you subpoenaed someone to testify before your committees and she tells you she is a victim, listen to her. Believe her,” Jones said as she recounted her experience with Epstein. “The girls … should not be treated like criminals,” she continued. “Please learn the stories of the women who have been harmed before you force them to testify in a room full of strangers about the worst moments of their lives.”
Recommended
Following the hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., spoke to MS NOW about next steps in the investigation, including how the committee intends to approach Kellen and whether it will seek to subpoena or request a transcribed interview from any other women who, like Kellen, have been accused of involvement in Epstein’s abuse.
“I think there are a couple key folks that were both abused and did some horrific things to facilitate abuse,” Garcia said. “I think that that’s something that we are right now working through, and we’ve been very careful about naming who those folks are.”
Other members of the committee have not approached the question as cautiously.
During the May 12 hearing, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., displayed a poster that included redacted photographs, taken from the Epstein files, of people in Epstein’s close circle. He called on the Department of Justice to make public the identities of “these men.” Based on MS NOW’s review of other iterations of this same chart as published by the DOJ, at least some of the redacted images include these female “co-conspirators,” including Kellen. Krishnamoorthi, like other members of Congress, has had access to the unredacted Epstein files.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., chose to denounce the women publicly and by name. At a press conference in February, she labeled them “co-conspirators,” saying, “All of these women engaged in the trafficking of minors as adults. They were working and complicit in Jeffrey Epstein’s operation. And in my opinion, they are not to be given victim status because they did partake in harming young girls.”
Yet among the women who Epstein abused and who allegedly helped to enable his abuse of others, Kellen is the only one the committee has scheduled to provide a transcribed interview. Garcia says he has not ruled out the possibility of issuing additional subpoenas.
“I do believe strongly that we owe it to the survivors and the American public to move this investigation forward as aggressively as possible, while understanding that it is also incredibly complex, especially with this group of women who both were victims in many cases, but also then caused enormous abuse,” Garcia said.
Maddie Bimonte and Lisa Rubin contributed to this report.
Sydney Reynolds is a senior assignment editor for MS NOW