Did Gene Hackman vow to "corroborate everything in the Epstein client list" in an X.com post a year before his death? No, that's not true: The user name seen in the purported February 2024 tweet does not exist and there is no indication online the 95-year-old actor was active on the social media platform in recent years. While no "client list" has been released, the Epstein "contact list" released by the Justice Department on February 27, 2025, did not include Hackman's name.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on March 1, 2025 by the @Jgt58maga account on X.com under the title "Gene Hackman didn't just die...". It read:
I am ready to corroborate everything in the Epstein client list, and to put Bill Clinton and others in prison, if it's the last thing I ever do.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: screenshot taken by Lead Stories on March 2, 2025 at 14:13:48 UTC)
Along with the image of the fake tweet, the post included an unrelated video of actor Randy Quaid speaking at a news conference in 2010 during which he claimed that "Hollywood star whackers" were killing celebrities they could not control and rob. The apparent implication was that Hackman was murdered because of his what he knew about Epstein's "client list."
The belief that an Epstein "client list" exists is so far unproven. It has long been the topic of rumors and conspiracy theorists, but it has never surfaced during federal court litigation -- both civil and criminal. Epstein was indicted on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors in July 2019, but he was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial. Epstein allegedly instructed his employees to help recruit underage females to "massage" or engage in sex acts with him. The charges did not include allegations that Epstein, a billionaire financial manager, had a list of clients who also abused the victims.
Some of victims named Epstein friends and acquaintances as having taken part in sex abuse of underage females in civil lawsuits. No "client list" has emerged from the litigation.
His longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell was indicted on federal charges of enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy, and perjury in 2020. Her trial, which ended with convictions and a 20-year prison sentence, also did not reveal a client list. A "contact list" was made public, the same one the U.S. Justice Department released in a redacted form in 2025.
There is no mention of Gene Hackman in that list (see it here) or the flight logs of Epstein's airplanes (also see the logs here.)
The purported Hacksman tweet has @realGeneHackman as the account name. A search of the X platform confirmed there is no such account:
The Internet Archive Wayback Machine could not find the account and has never archived any posts from it.
The avatar used in the post is from a publicity photo from Hackman's 1983 film Uncommon Valor, which is available online.
Lead Stories found several versions of the claim that Hackman's death was suspicious because it came just days before the Justice Department released documents that were already mostly public. There is no evidence of a connection between the two events.
Some posts claim that Hackman's 360-acre Santa Fe, New Mexico ranch was next to Epstein's 8,000-acre Stanley, New Mexico ranch. However, a quick Google map search shows they're separated by about 54 miles.
The Sante Fe, New Mexico, sheriff told reporters on February 28, 2025, that it was "a very good assumption" that Hackman died on February 17. There were no signs of forced entry, foul play, a robbery, he said. It was expected to take several days before a medical examiner ruled on a cause of death.
