Several House Republicans are now calling on the Justice Department to investigate two men tied to Jeffrey Epstein after being accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s former assistant, Sarah Kellen.
Kellen sat for a transcribed interview with the Oversight and Government Reform Committee last month as part of its Epstein probe, where she told lawmakers she was abused as part of the convicted sex offender’s criminal enterprise.
She also told the committee she had been abused by celebrity hair stylist Frédéric Fekkai, who she alleged introduced her to Epstein under the auspices that he was a Victoria’s Secret model scout, and Philip Levine, the former Miami Beach mayor.
“[T]he Committee requests that the DOJ use all available tools, including immunity for certain witnesses, to investigate the allegations against, and any other criminal conduct committed by, Philip Levine and Frédéric Fekkai,” wrote Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and several panel Republicans in a letter Thursday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The DOJ did immediately return a request for comment about the letter. A press contact for Fekkai’s haircare company also did not immediately return a request for comment about the allegations.
A spokesperson for Levine in a statement denied Kellen’s account of their interaction: “Nearly a quarter century ago, our client had a brief intimate encounter with another consenting adult. Any allegation suggesting otherwise is not true.”
Levine previously told WLRN Public Media that he “met Epstein only a few times.”
In their letter, the House Republicans noted that Levine’s name appears hundreds of times in the so-called Epstein files released by the Justice Department, and Fekkai “routinely [provided] salon services to women at Mr. Epstein’s instruction.”
Lawmakers also noted that Kellen only spoke to authorities in the Southern District of New York around Epstein’s 2019 criminal case. She had not been contacted by law enforcement before then.
“As part of its investigation into the alleged mismanagement of the federal government’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell matters, the Committee seeks to understand why Ms. Kellen was not interviewed or otherwise contacted during that period,” the House Republicans wrote.
In wake of arrests abroad for some individuals who associated with Epstein, pressure has been mounting on U.S. authorities to also pursue additional criminal accountability in the case. But lawmakers have struggled to build new evidence that could lead to other prosecutions. Only one person so far has been convicted as part of Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme: Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving 20 years in prison.
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