Article By Bob Cronin
Sarah Kellen tells House panel the public narrative is wrong
A longtime assistant to Jeffrey Epstein wants to rewrite the public narrative about her role in his orbit. In closed-door testimony to a congressional committee on Thursday, 46-year-old Sarah Kellen rejected accusations that she was an accomplice, instead describing herself as one of the late financier’s victims who was “sexually and psychologically abused” for more than a decade. Kellen, who was named as a potential co-conspirator in Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution deal, told the House Oversight Committee that she had “zero power or authority,” the Guardian reports, and that both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell treated her as a “slave.”
Kellen has been investigated in the past but not charged, per ABC News, partly because of her allegations, according to court documents and records released this year by the Justice Department. She maintained she was groomed, controlled, and abused on a near-weekly basis, including while Epstein was jailed in Florida, saying he ordered her to undress over Skype from inside the county stockade, per the Guardian. Kellen said in her opening statement that she never knew her name was in the 2007 plea deal and was never questioned by law enforcement, calling that a “secret deal with my own abuser.”
She acknowledged public accusations that she scheduled and arranged encounters for Epstein; Kellen has previously said she followed instructions and did not know some girls were underage. Asked before the session if he considers Kellen a victim or accomplice, Republican Chairman James Comer said: “I don’t know. I am here to listen and learn.” Kellen told the panel: “I know some of you are wondering why I did not leave. I had nowhere else to go. I had no money, no family, no education and no sense that I deserved any better.”
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