As Ghislaine faces trial, four other female ‘aides’ to billionaire abuser Epstein may be investigated
SCANNING through leaked flight logs from Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet between 2001 and 2006, an unfamiliar name crops up time and again — 350 times, to be precise. The name is Sarah Kellen.
Only Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate, appear to have flown more often than Kellen on the plane dubbed the Lolita Express. Described as Maxwell’s “lieutenant”, she is accused by his victims of procuring women for Epstein.
Little has been heard of, or from, the 40-year-old, and three other alleged female “co-conspirators”, since they were given immunity from prosecution under a highly unusual “sweetheart deal” struck between Epstein and US attorneys in Florida in a 2008 criminal case. The arrest of Ghislaine was at the behest of New York attorneys — who say they are not bound by the Florida agreement — now raises the prospect that the four will be investigated.
Authorities are looking into the alleged role played by Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, and Nadia Marcinkova with a view to bringing charges. The women are accused of being his “recruiters, groomers, sexual partners and friends”, an organised network of underlings who reportedly received huge salaries and perks in return.
Kellen is accused of running a stable of girls that she would arrange to visit Epstein.
“When Jeffrey wanted me, Sarah or Ghislaine would call me into his bedroom. I had no choice but to go,” said Sarah Ransome, who was a 22-yearold student when she claims she was abused and trafficked. Ransome alleges the pair also gave her tips on how to give Epstein erotic massages, including how to rub his feet and satisfy him sexually.
“Sarah Kellen knew for every girl that she organised to go on that island or to be picked up by a car to go to the New York mansion, she knew that these girls were there to be abused repeatedly,” she said. According to court papers, Kellen and Maxwell told the girls not to talk about their interactions with Epstein. Maxwell denies all charges against her.
Kellen, who was 22 and had just been cast out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses after a divorce when she met Epstein, claimed to have been manipulated “sexually and psychologically” by him for
ARRESTED: Ghislaine Maxwell
years. She did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to CBS News, lawyers for Kellen claimed she scheduled appointments for Epstein and Maxwell “at their direction”. Kellen is “aware of the pain and damage Epstein caused and deeply regrets that she had any part in it,” they said.
Marcinkova and Ross have exercised their right to remain silent when questioned on the allegations. Groff denied having anything to do with Epstein’s sexual misconduct through a lawyer in 2019.
Marcinkova says she was herself a “sex slave” who was brought by Epstein to the US from Slovakia when she was 15 before she is alleged to have started helping procure other girls. The women have faced numerous civil lawsuits, but never criminal ones.
The question now is whether Maxwell, who is facing 35 years in prison if she is found guilty, will work with prosecutors to build a case against the alleged co-conspirators.
“She will name names. She’s a drowning rat,” said one insider.