{"id":48532,"date":"2026-06-03T12:12:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48532"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:12:28","slug":"eyes-on-epstein-the-witnesses-start-filling-the-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/03\/eyes-on-epstein-the-witnesses-start-filling-the-gaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes on Epstein: The Witnesses Start Filling the Gaps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Eyes
Photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from DOJ Epstein Library (PD)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Epstein<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troy Barile-Simleness<\/a>\u00a006\/02\/26 (whowhatwhy.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting closer to the rot<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The files still matter, but the people around them started to matter more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Kellen Gave Congress Three New Names<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Kellen, Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s longtime assistant and one of the women named as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 nonprosecution agreement, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on May 21 and tried to recast the role that has followed her for almost two decades. In a prepared statement, Kellen said<\/a> Epstein abused her for more than a decade and described the control in language that was unusually direct:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He groomed me, sexually and psychologically abused me, controlled me, manipulated me, dominated me, and gaslit me, until I could no longer tell which thoughts were mine, and which were his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The testimony immediately changed the temperature of the committee\u2019s investigation. Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told reporters, \u201cI believe she was a victim now,\u201d and called her appearance \u201cthe most substantive, productive interview that we\u2019ve had.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said Kellen provided \u201cthree names of people that were involved in abuse,\u201d but declined to identify them publicly or describe the allegations attached to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new names \u2014 that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been waiting for,\u201d Comer said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That leaves the committee with a very different problem than another file release. Kellen has been described for years as an operator inside Epstein\u2019s world, but she denied<\/a> being an accomplice and told Congress she was also trapped inside it. The names she gave lawmakers are now a key lead in the investigation, and the committee has said it will release the transcript \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew\u2019s Investigation Widened Again<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

British police made clear that the investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is bigger than one allegation about confidential government information. Thames Valley Police are examining<\/a> a range of potential misconduct connected to Andrew\u2019s time as a trade envoy, including possible sexual impropriety, corruption, and abuse of power. Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said the investigation is \u201cby necessity hugely thorough\u201d and \u201cnot going to be a quick investigation by any means.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new public appeal is directed at people who may have information about Epstein-related activity around Andrew. Police are also assessing reports that a woman was taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes after a lawyer for the alleged victim said she had been sent to Britain by Epstein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright said the force\u2019s \u201cdoor is open whenever a victim survivor is ready to engage with us.\u201d The inquiry is now looking<\/a> at multiple potential offenses, and police are appealing for witnesses<\/a> as the investigation broadens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queen\u2019s Papers Entered the Andrew File<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

British government documents released recently put Andrew\u2019s trade envoy appointment into sharper focus. The head of Britain\u2019s trade body wrote<\/a> in 2000 that, \u201cThe Queen is very keen that the Duke of York should take on a prominent role in the promotion of national interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is what the documents show around that appointment. Trade Minister Chris Bryant told lawmakers that \u201cwe have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken\u201d before Andrew received the role. That history now sits inside the police investigation into whether Andrew misused his public office while maintaining contact with Epstein. The inquiry focuses<\/a> on his trade envoy role from 2001 to 2011, with released DOJ emails suggesting he shared sensitive information with Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surrey Police Opened a Child Sexual Abuse Investigation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The United Kingdom track expanded in a second direction when Surrey Police launched a criminal investigation into two allegations of child sexual abuse connected to information in the Epstein files. One allegation<\/a> relates to locations in Surrey and Berkshire from the mid-1990s to 2000, while another relates to west Surrey in the mid- to late 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The force said it has made no arrests but would work to verify information or establish corroborating evidence. Two women have come forward<\/a> alleging they were the victims of attacks described in the Epstein files. The Surrey investigation is the first British police investigation into alleged sexual harm against females relating to Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France Says New Suspected Victims Have Come Forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

French prosecutors are now listening to women who were not previously known to investigators. Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said about 20 suspected victims have come forward since she urged potential victims to speak in February, including around 10 who were new to authorities. \u201cNew victims come forward, ones we didn\u2019t know at all,\u201d she told<\/a> RTL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French investigation is focused on possible offenses committed in France or involving French perpetrators who facilitated Epstein\u2019s crimes. Beccuau said investigators had \u201conce again pulled out Mr. Epstein\u2019s computers, his telephone records, his address books\u201d and were preparing requests for international assistance. Some of the suspected victims are abroad<\/a>, and investigators are arranging meetings around their ability to come to Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zorro Ranch Has a Report Date<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New Mexico\u2019s Truth Commission is scheduled to release<\/a> its initial report on its Zorro Ranch investigation on July 31. That is important because the ranch, unlike Epstein\u2019s Manhattan mansion, Palm Beach home, and island, sat for years without the same level of investigative attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Rep. Andrea Romero (D), who heads the commission, said it will examine systemic issues that may have drawn Epstein to New Mexico and whether anyone helped sweep things aside. \u201cWe know that there are survivors that were on the record reporting abuse,\u201d Romero said<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did their case never make it to the state nor federal government to hold that to account in some way, shape or form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Mexico\u2019s Department of Justice also maintains an active Zorro Ranch tip portal seeking credible information, and the department said earlier this year that it had reopened the criminal investigation after reviewing newly released federal material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bard\u2019s Board Vote Changed the Botstein Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leon Botstein\u2019s exit from Bard College no longer reads as a simple retirement story. Bard\u2019s board of trustees voted to end<\/a> Botstein\u2019s 51-year tenure after board members were presented with the results of an independent review of his relationship with Epstein. Botstein had publicly framed his departure as long planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review found<\/a> that Botstein had done nothing illegal but that he was \u201cnot fully accurate\u201d in describing his relationship with Epstein and did not fully \u201csee\u201d the risk Epstein posed to Bard\u2019s reputation or to students. The fallout is now institutional as Bard confirmed that its longtime board chair, James Chambers, and two others resigned, while an alum has asked the New York attorney general\u2019s charities office to investigate the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cellmate Story Became Stranger Than the Note<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The purported Epstein note was already public. Recently, the story around the man who produced it became harder to ignore. The Guardian<\/em><\/a> revisited the story of Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein\u2019s former cellmate, a retired police officer later convicted in a quadruple murder case. Epstein initially said Tartaglione attacked him after Epstein was found with neck injuries in July 2019, then retracted that claim. Prison officials later concluded Epstein had tried to kill himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tartaglione reported finding a note from Epstein hidden in a graphic novel after Epstein had been removed from their cell. The note was released<\/a> earlier this month after litigation, and it included the line, \u201cIt is a treat to be able to choose one\u2019s time to say goodbye.\u201d At the time of the release, the Justice Department said it was seeing the note for the first time<\/a>. The new issue is not only what the note says. It is how something tied to Epstein\u2019s first jail incident sat outside the DOJ\u2019s own file release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reading Room Turned the Files Into a Spectacle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A New York installation is displaying nearly 3.5 million printed pages of Epstein material in more than 3,000 volumes under the title \u201cDonald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room.\u201d The project bills itself<\/a> as \u201can exercise in radical transparency,\u201d but visitors are not freely browsing the documents because of concerns from survivors that the government failed to properly redact identifying information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point of the exhibit is to force the public to confront the scale of the file universe. The problem is also obvious. A mountain of printed pages can dramatize opacity while doing very little to solve it. That tension is why the installation became a story in its own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What We\u2019re Watching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The next pressure points are Kellen\u2019s transcript, the three new names she gave investigators, the UK police requests for unredacted American records, and the first Zorro Ranch truth commission report due July 31. The pattern is straightforward enough as the files are still central, but witnesses, police, prosecutors, and independent researchers are now pushing the story into places the official releases did not reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Epstein Troy Barile-Simleness\u00a006\/02\/26 (whowhatwhy.org) Getting closer to the rot The files still matter, but the people around them started to matter more. Sarah Kellen Gave Congress Three New Names Sarah Kellen, Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s longtime assistant and one of the women named as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 nonprosecution agreement,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1945,1879],"tags":[1975],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48532"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48533,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48532\/revisions\/48533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}