The Girls of the System - How Jeffrey Epstein shaped victims and at the same time turned them into tools

The Jeffrey Epstein case forces one of the most difficult questions of all: Who was a victim - and who became part of the machinery that produced further victims? Investigators, prosecutors, FBI agents and journalists still struggle with this boundary today. Because Epstein’s system did not function only through violence or money. It functioned through control over people. Many of the girls and young women who came to his houses were first victims. Some appeared once, gave the alleged “massages,” were abused and then disappeared from his life forever. Others returned. Some came again and again. And some of them later began to bring new girls.

For outsiders this seems almost impossible to understand. Why would someone return after being abused? The answer lies in the way Epstein constructed his environment. He promised young people a different life. Money. Opportunities. Connections. Anyone who entered his houses saw luxury that for many was unimaginable. For girls from difficult families or without stable support, that was more than just wealth. It was the prospect of another life. Epstein understood exactly how to create trust. He presented himself as someone who cared. A man with influence who could open doors. Beside him stood Ghislaine Maxwell, who for many of the girls played an almost maternal role. She asked questions about their lives, listened, gave advice - and in doing so created a closeness that later became control. The message was simple: Whoever followed the rules could become part of this world.

One example of this is Sarah Kellen. She grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, in a strictly isolated environment. As a young adult she was expelled by her family. She moved with a boyfriend to the other side of the country, but that relationship also broke apart. In the end she was left alone. A young woman without support who had already lived in a strongly controlled community. For someone like Epstein that was an ideal starting point. At the beginning he promised many of these young women jobs as assistants. Step by step they were drawn into his operations. Coordinating appointments. Organizing contacts. At some point it was no longer about office work but about organizing the girls who were brought to him.

Sarah Kellen Vickers was among the central figures in the circle around Jeffrey Epstein. Documents from the investigations of the years 2006 to 2008 already show that she organized most of the appointments in the Palm Beach house. Girls who came for the alleged “massages” received between 200 and 300 dollars after the meetings - the money was often paid out by her. Investigations and court records showed that Kellen Vickers remained connected to Epstein and continued working for him even beyond 2013. Several witnesses mentioned her name during the trial against Ghislaine Maxwell. The judge even described her during sentencing as a “criminally responsible participant.” Nevertheless Kellen Vickers has never been charged to this day. In several civil lawsuits, however, her name appears as a defendant.

Sarah Kellen Vickers’ name also continues to appear in later court records in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. In a sworn declaration in the case Virginia L. Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a senior investigator from a private investigations firm describes the delivery of subpoenas. Investigator Douglas G. Mercer states under oath that his firm had been commissioned to serve subpoenas on several individuals from Epstein’s inner circle. These included Jeffrey Epstein, Sarah Kellen Vickers and Nadia Marcinkova.

On April 25, 2016 the investigative office had the current addresses of these individuals in New York researched in order to prepare the service of the court documents. The declaration shows that several of the central figures from Epstein’s circle were still the subject of legal proceedings and investigations years after the first inquiries. The name Sarah Kellen Vickers therefore appears not only in the early investigative files from Palm Beach but also in later court documents connected to the civil proceedings surrounding the network of Jeffrey Epstein.

Her work had already begun in 2002. She worked both at the residence in Manhattan and at the house in Palm Beach. During this time Maxwell was already losing influence over daily operations while Kellen increasingly took on tasks that had previously been attributed to Maxwell. Carolyn Andriano, herself a victim of Epstein, testified in court that Kellen Vickers had taken nude photographs of her at least once before a meeting that later resulted in sexual abuse by Epstein. Andriano received several hundred dollars for it. She died in 2023 in a hotel room in West Palm Beach from an accidental overdose. Kellen Vickers herself describes herself as a victim. She stated that she had been “raped and abused weekly” by Epstein and Maxwell. At the same time statements and records show that Epstein paid many girls to bring additional young women. According to reports he demanded three new appointments every day. Many of the victims came from schools in Palm Beach County. The Royal Palm Beach High School is mentioned particularly often, from which at least fifteen students became entangled in the system.

Today Sarah Kellen Vickers lives a completely different life. She was married to NASCAR champion Brian Vickers. In February 2025 he filed for divorce according to court documents in Miami Dade. The proceedings are still ongoing. The couple owned a house in Miami Beach worth around 6.5 million dollars that was listed for sale. The case of Sarah Kellen Vickers shows how difficult it is to draw clear lines in Epstein’s system - between victimhood, dependency and personal responsibility.

Some of them might perhaps have been able to leave once they understood what was really happening. But it was rarely that simple. Many were barely older than teenagers. Some came from families that had already fallen apart. Others had already experienced abuse themselves. Still others were recruited abroad and brought to the United States with promises of a career as a model or actress.

This is how human trafficking works. It rarely begins with violence. It begins with promises. Anyone who comes from secure circumstances can hardly imagine how quickly people fall into such dependencies. Anyone who has never experienced what it means to be completely alone easily underestimates the power someone like Epstein could gain over young people. Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell created an environment in which sexual abuse appeared normal. Girls were convinced that this was part of a system that supposedly brought them advantages. What from the outside looks like a network of perpetrators and helpers was for many on the inside a web of dependency, fear and false hopes.

The Epstein case is therefore more than the story of a wealthy man who committed crimes. It shows how easily vulnerable people can be manipulated - and how quickly victims can be pushed into roles they themselves never chose. This does not apply only to this one case. Worldwide tens of thousands of children and young adults are exploited in similar ways. Anyone who wants to fight this reality must first understand how such systems function. And above all something must happen that for a long time was not self evident: Believe the victims.