Sarah Kellen, left, with Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo: Patrick McMullan via Getty Image

Jeffrey Epstein, deceased financier and pedophile, allegedly molested dozens of girls in a vast and elaborate web of abuse. Since his death by apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail cell earlier this month, public and legal focus has increasingly shifted to the figures accused of facilitating his predatory operation — most notably, his alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. But as the New York Times noted in a report this week, lawsuits and unsealed court records suggest Epstein relied on a small group of women who recruited and coached underage girls in how to pleasure the billionaire. One of these women, Sarah Kellen (or sometimes Kensington), 39, was a high-ranking Epstein employee who has been referred to as Maxwell’s “lieutenant,” and who allegedly kept an extensive list of young girls she would call up to arrange encounters between them and Epstein. Kellen was one of the four “potential co-conspirators” who were named in the suit against Epstein in 2007, and who avoided charges due to the absurdly lenient plea deal brokered by former Labor secretary Alex Acosta.

Here is what we know about her.

She was “like an assistant to Ghislaine.”

So said Epstein’s former pilot, David Rodgers, in a deposition, the Times reports. Haley Robson, 33, said she was 16 when she was recruited into Epstein’s ring. Like so many other girls, she was told she would be a masseuse, and like so many other girls, she says the financier groped her while she was giving him a massage. Robson eventually started recruiting other girls into the operation. According to her, Kellen kept all of the names and numbers of girls who gave Epstein erotic massages and would call around to see who was available to “work” when Epstein was at his Palm Beach mansion. Some of these girls later told Palm Beach detectives that it was Kellen who would show them upstairs when they arrived at the house and set up the massage table for them.

One of Epstein’s victims, Sarah Ransome, said that Maxwell and Kellen coached her on how to pleasure him. “It was Ghislaine and Sarah Kellen that showed me how to please Jeffrey,” Ransome said. (Maxwell has repeatedly denied participating in or arranging the abuse, and Kellen did not respond to requests for comments from the Times.)

She owns an interior-design firm.

As the Daily Beast reported in July, Kellen owns an interior-design firm called SLK Designs. Although online mentions of it are scarce, records show the business once operated from a building in midtown Manhattan owned by Epstein’s brother. Also, per the Daily Beast, “The condominium listed to take SLK Designs deliveries, at 301 E. 66th St., is the same address where Epstein allegedly rented units to house models.”

A Facebook page for Kellen identifies her as the owner of SLK Designs and says, “At the present time, Sarah Kensington is working with a number of clients on various projects including renovating several corporate apartments in New York, the Caribbean, and Paris. For the houses that Sarah manages, she does a number of duties which can involve organizing staff schedules, looking for and interviewing housekeepers and chefs, purchase and source items that are needed for the household (flatware, dishes, furniture, art, etc.), design floral arrangements, and interior design.”

But not this interior-design firm.

Kellen’s SLK Designs is not the SLK Designs in North Carolina, owned by Shannon Richardson, which posted the following statement on their website and Facebook back in July:

She’s married to a NASCAR driver.

In 2013, Kellen married NASCAR driver Brian Vickers. In 2018, they had a nice Easter in Miami.

Happy Easter from Miami! pic.twitter.com/OdVColXcT2 — Brian Vickers (@BrianLVickers) April 1, 2018

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