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Bad Joke

Is Jacob Rothschild worth "$500 trillion" and does he own "every central bank in the world"? No, that's not true: A satirical meme posted about the wealthy Rothschild exaggerates his estimated $5 billion wealth and erroneously claims that he owns every central bank in the world. There is no evidence he has financed both sides of every war since Napoleon as he wasn't born for more than 100 years after Napoleon led the French army.

The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) published November 2, 2021. It opened:

Mr. Burns from The Simpsons is based off
Jacob Rothschild
net worth 500 trillion
Owns every central bank in the world
Financed both sides of every war since
Napoleon

Social media users saw this:

(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Mon Nov 8 4:47:33 2021 UTC)

The meme is a satirical comparison of the cartoon character of Homer Simpson's boss Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons" and an unidentified man. It's not clear whether the man in the photo is Rothschild, who is shown below in what appears to be a more recent photo.

Lord Jacob Rothschild attends a private view of a new exhibition of sculptures on September 13, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The claims in the meme are false:

Jacob Rothschild net worth 500 trillion

The net worth of Jacob Rothschild has been estimated at $500 billion dollars by Celebrity Net Worth and the 360 Report, not $500 trillion.

Owns every central bank in the world

Ownership of central banks throughout the world vary, but many are owned by governments, therefore negating the claim that Rothschild owns them. Bank Underground published a report in 2019 describing the breakdown of ownership of central banks as owned by the public sector, private sector and a combination of both.

The Anti-Defamation League has published reports regarding the antisemetic conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family owning all of the world's banks:

In more recent years, the antisemitic notion that "the Jews" dominate and command the U.S. Federal Reserve System and in effect control the world's money has surfaced across the extremist spectrum.

There is a section in the report titled, "The Rothschild Connection," which says, "In the literature of bigots, the name Rothschild is a trigger for the most explosive of antisemitic tremors, and it usually sets off a litany of other Jewish names." The article continues:

In 1983, the charge that Rothschild banks and other international banking concerns, mostly with Jewish names, controlled the Federal Reserve was published (probably from earlier sources) in the newsletter of a local Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) -- not an extremist group. The article stated that the Federal Reserve System "is not a Federal entity but a private corporation owned in part by the following: Rothschild banks of London and Berlin, Lazard Brothers bank of Paris, Israel Moses Seif banks of Italy, Warburg bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam, Lehman Bros. bank of New York, Chase Manhattan bank of New York, Kuhn, Loeb bank of New York, Goldman Sachs bank of New York."
In fact the Federal Reserve Bank of New York -- the largest and most significant of the Fed's 12 banks -- lists the banks in the Second Federal Reserve District that are members and stockholders in the New York Federal Reserve Bank. With the exception of the Chase Manhattan Bank, the institutions cited by the NARFE newsletter as allegedly owning and controlling the Federal Reserve system ("Rothschild ... Lazard Brothers ... Israel Moses Seif... Warburg ... Lehman Brothers ... Kuhn, Loeb ... Goldman, Sachs") were not members of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York."

Financed both sides of every war since Napoleon

The post's claim that Rothschild "financed both sides of every war since Napoleon" is illogical. Napoleon was the French military leader in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Jacob Rothschild was born in 1936, which was more than 100 years after Napoleon was leading the French in its wars. Multiple wars were waged around the world during this time and subsequently, and there is no proof that Jacob Rothschild financed both sides in any war, let alone every war.

The caption on the Instagram post uses the hashtag "#Wwg1wga," which is a QAnon slogan that means "Where we go 1 we go all." QAnon is an unfounded conspiracy theory that posits, among other things, that Donald Trump is waging a secret war against satanic Hollywood elites, Democratic elected officials and business leaders who are running a secret international child sex trafficking ring. QAnon followers receive messages online from an account called "Q" that they believe informs them of the coded messages Trump is sending to signify his accomplishments in the secret war. QAnon supporters believe Trump will oversee arrests of high-powered people for child sex abuse and that he will be returned to a place of power as the president again. They have been referring to something called the "Storm," which will be the moment Trump will expose and punish the international cabal of evil-doers.

Lead Stories has debunked multiple claims made by QAnon supporters including these, here and here.

Lead Stories has also debunked multiple false claims regarding the Rothschild family here.