Jeffrey Epstein

Does a post about Mark Zuckerberg's supposed subpoena accurately reflect recent reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein front company, Butterfly Foundation, named in the Tehran files? No, that's not true: Media reports don't support that. Lead Stories found no news articles corroborating the claim. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on March 4, 2026. It opened:…

Is a video of Donald Trump with blindfolded children that claims to have come "out of the Epstein files" real? No, that's not true: There is no record of an image or video showing President Trump with blindfolded children with Jeffrey Epstein. The video is a mashup of footage of Trump and Epstein and children that appears to be AI-generated.…

Does a viral image prove that Ghislaine Maxwell, a socialite convicted of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein, touched Melania Trump's breast while posing next to Donald Trump at a party in the early 2000s? No, that's not true: A real photo of them was digitally altered to change the position of Maxwell's hand. In the original shot, Maxwell's arm rests…

Was a "secret report" numbered 77/5000 released with the Epstein files, showing security camera footage of the now-dead pedophile financier walking with and kissing a girl? No, that's not true: This video is fake. There are two nearly identical versions of this AI-generated video. Both feature the same non-functioning timestamp, identical down to the second. In one version the girl…

Does a photo show Hillary Clinton posing with her husband, Bill Clinton, along with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell? No, that's not true: The woman in the picture is Jane Slagsvol, wife of the late musician Jimmy Buffett, not Hillary Clinton. The photo has been cropped; the original version shows Buffett standing next to Slagsvol. The claim appeared in a…

Does a viral image document Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney dining with Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite convicted of sex trafficking girls for Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: The image displayed a watermark pointing to a generative AI tool. Several details in the picture, such as missing temples of a person's glasses or an earring incorrectly attached to an…

Does a viral image of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi wearing "Don't ban insider trading" lapel sticker show what she wore to the 2026 State of the Union speech by President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: A picture of her was digitally edited to change the words on her sticker. The real badge worn by the former speaker of the House…

Was Ghislaine Maxwell spotted out and about in Québec, Canada? No, that's not true: This video shows a real street scene in Québec, but an AI tool has been used to swap the face of the woman with Ghislaine Maxwell's. The creator who published this face swap video does not have a disclaimer regarding the AI-generated content. But, in a…

Did Jon Stewart broadcast a livestream about the Virginia Giuffre case and did the show get 3.2 billion views globally? No, that's not true: Giuffre was one of the women who accused Jeffrey Epstein and others of sexual abuse as a teenager. There is no evidence such a show was ever broadcast. The website and Facebook pages spreading the claim…

Did comedians Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart or actor Tom Hanks broadcast a television program to disclose the names of numerous people not previously known to be implicated by the files of investigations into Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and others were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. There were…