Sarah Kellen Testifies She Was Epstein’s Long-Term Victim and Recruiter of Girls
A transcript released Friday shows Sarah Kellen told the House Oversight Committee she was groomed, abused, and paid $25,000 a year to submit to Epstein starting in 2001.
New York PostSarah Kellen told the House Oversight Committee last month that Jeffrey Epstein groomed, sexually and psychologically abused, controlled, manipulated, dominated, and gaslit her for more than 20 years. A transcript of her testimony was released on Friday. Kellen, now 46, said she was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness where women were required to submit to and obey men.
She said Epstein first tricked her into stripping by telling her she was being considered for an underwear model gig. She began working unpaid as an assistant for Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell before Epstein hired her as a paid assistant in 2001. Kellen said she was paid $25,000 a year while working on-call 24/7 for months at a time with no days off.
She said she understood she was being paid in part to be raped. Maxwell called Kellen their “slave and minion,” according to the testimony. Kellen said she witnessed Epstein bring Maxwell to tears.
Kellen described being violently raped by Epstein in a Palm Beach gym where he blasted music so loud no one could hear and choked her. She said Epstein also abused her via Skype while serving his 18-month sentence in the Palm Beach County Stockade in 2008, ordering her to undress on camera from a room with plain white walls.
Kellen stated that Epstein would have been given special treatment while behind bars and was allowed to serve much of his sentence inside an office.
She said Epstein dictated her haircut and hair color. As a result of years of abuse, constant sleep deprivation, and coercive control by Epstein and Maxwell, Kellen said she suffered psychological conditions including PTSD that hampered her ability to identify emotions and make decisions.
Kellen had previously been named as Epstein’s “lieutenant” who served as both his scheduler and a recruiter of girls, according to a 2010 Department of Justice docket.
Epstein was found dead in a lower Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges; the death was ruled a suicide.
