![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Levine20Epstein.jpg\" "\\"Former")
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Former Miami Beach mayor and 2018 Florida gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine (left) and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (right)<\/p>\n
Al Diaz\/Miami Herald, U.S. Justice Department<\/p>\n
The House Oversight Committee on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate sexual assault allegations<\/a> made by a former assistant of Jeffrey Epstein against former Miami Beach mayor and 2018 Florida gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine.<\/p>\n The committee called on the Department of Justice to \u201cuse all available tools, including immunity for certain witnesses,\u201d to look into the claims by Sarah Kellen against both Levine and celebrity hairstylist Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Fekkai.<\/p>\n Also on Thursday, the committee released a transcript of Kellen\u2019s testimony on May 21, revealing the details of the alleged encounter between Kellen and Levine. The Miami Herald reported the day after the testimony that Kellen had accused Levine of sexual assault<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the transcript, Kellen said that, in the summer of 2002 or 2003, Levine came to stay at a house that Epstein had rented in Saint Tropez. Kellen was in her early-to-mid 20s at the time. Levine was around 40.<\/p>\n After Epstein and his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, had gone to bed, Kellen and Levine were still awake, Kellen said. Kellen was working for Epstein and Maxwell at the time.<\/p>\n Kellen testified that Levine \u201ccame up to me, and he was like, \u2018You know, must be so lonely for you working with them because you\u2019re with them all the time, and you can\u2019t have your own life, so you must be \u2014 must be really lonely,\u2019 and he basically forced himself on me.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in her testimony, Kellen said Levine had sexually assaulted her \u201cat the house and then again on the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were kind of all walking, and I think it was Jeffrey and Ghislaine were kind of ahead of us, and then there was me and Philip,\u201d Kellen said. \u201cAnd then there was, like, this wooden kind of shack on the beach. And he just, like, grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shack.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellen said that she didn\u2019t recall having further contact with Levine after that, but that she \u201cknew that him and Ghislaine were very friendly.\u201d She testified that no one witnessed the abuse and that she didn\u2019t tell anyone. She said she was \u201cnot sure\u201d whether Levine abused anyone else.<\/p>\n Asked by lawmakers if she had ever considered suing or pursuing criminal charges against Levine, Kellen said no.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Levine told the Herald on Thursday: \u201cNearly a quarter century ago, our client had a brief intimate encounter with another consenting adult. Any allegation suggesting otherwise is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said in a press release that the committee \u201creceived serious allegations of criminal misconduct\u201d involving Levine and Fekkai.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Oversight Committee is not a law enforcement entity, and our role is not to determine guilt or innocence,\u201d Comer said. \u201cWe are referring these allegations to the Department of Justice, which has the tools to investigate criminal misconduct. We will continue to follow the facts and ensure accountability for survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellen worked for Epstein for about 15 years, starting in about 2001. She herself was recruited to work as a personal assistant when she was about 21 years old. She was called to testify before the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Epstein\u2019s criminal network.<\/p>\n It was the first time a victim had testified about Epstein before Congress. Kellen was not sworn in to testify for the interview, which was conducted behind closed doors. But it is against the law to lie to Congress, so she can be prosecuted if her statements are found to be untrue.<\/p>\n In a statement she read before the committee, Kellen said that she was sexually and emotionally abused by Epstein for almost the entire time she worked for him.<\/p>\n When she was asked whether anyone else associated with Epstein had abused her, she said yes: \u201cFr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Fekkai, also Philip Levine, Ghislaine obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellen testified that Fekkai introduced her to Epstein in the early 2000s. She said that, prior to meeting Epstein, she stayed in a hotel room with Fekkai, and \u201che took advantage of me that night.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative for Fekkai told CNN<\/a> that Fekkai \u201cnever \u2018took advantage\u2019 of Sarah Kellen and he did not introduce her to Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d The representative previously said Fekkai \u201cnever assaulted anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n In its letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the committee noted that \u201cLevine\u2019s name appears over 600 times\u201d in files related to Epstein that have been released by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n Levine, who became mayor of Miami Beach in 2013 and ran as a Democrat for Florida governor in 2018, previously said<\/a> he \u201cnever had a friendship or business relationship\u201d with Epstein, who was charged with child sex trafficking in 2019 and died in his jail cell later that year.<\/p>\n Epstein had more than a dozen contacts for Levine in his so-called \u201clittle black book.\u201d Days after Epstein\u2019s death, Levine told the Herald he had met Epstein \u201ca couple of times\u201d but had \u201cno clue\u201d how they\u2019d met.<\/p>\n But files released by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year indicated<\/a> that Levine had a closer relationship with Epstein and Maxwell than he had previously let on \u2014 including an exchange in which Levine and Maxwell joked about Levine being \u201chung like a horse.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Who is Philip Levine, the ex-Miami Beach mayor named by Jeffrey Epstein associate?<\/a><\/p>\n In July 2010, as Epstein\u2019s probation period was ending after a sweetheart deal with federal prosecutors, Levine sent Epstein an email calling him \u201ca great guy\u201d and signing it, \u201cYour friend, Philip.\u201d<\/p>\n The files also revealed flirty and sexually suggestive emails between Levine and Maxwell from the early 2000s. In an October 2001 message, Levine told Maxwell to tell a woman whom Levine was planning to meet \u201cthat the rumor is that I am hung like a horse…not a rumor!!!\u201d<\/p>\n Maxwell wrote to Levine the same day: \u201cI told her that you were hung like a horse and she sd [sic] that she would like to see it at breakfast – I told her to take pictorial evidence for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, Maxwell told the Department of Justice that Levine was her \u201cvery good friend,\u201d and that she had been introduced to former President Bill Clinton \u201cbecause of Philip Levine.\u201d<\/p>\n Levine denied introducing Maxwell to Clinton, saying last year that his relationship with Maxwell \u201cwas that of a friend to my wife and I, nothing more and nothing less.\u201d Levine married in 2018.<\/p>\n This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 1:14 PM.<\/p>\n Mayor Philip Levine speaks at a Miami Beach City Commission meeting on Jan. 11, 2016. CARL JUSTE cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n