Quick Take

Ghislaine Maxwell, who is charged with assisting accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is scheduled to go on trial on Nov. 29. Social media posts are circulating a photo that falsely claims to show Chief Justice John Roberts in an affectionate pose with Maxwell. The photo actually shows Maxwell with a French modeling agent facing sexual assault charges.

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Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of accused sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein, was arrested last year and charged with “enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity” and conspiracy and perjury.

Maxwell is being held without bail ahead of her federal trial, which is set to begin Nov. 29 in New York City. 

As we’ve reported, social media posts have falsely tied Epstein and Maxwell to various political leaders and celebrities, including Bill Gates, Chris Wallace and the wife of Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

In the latest bogus claim, posts circulating on social media purports to show Maxwell in an affectionate pose with John Roberts, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Facebook post shows two photos side-by-side: Maxwell with an unidentified man and Roberts’ photo from the Supreme Court website. The caption reads, “That’s right Roberts we got yer number now. Tick ~ Tock!”

A post on Twitter shows the same photo of Maxwell with an unidentified man with the caption, “Justice Roberts. What a lovely photo. #JusticeRobertsIsCompromised”

But Roberts isn’t the man pictured with Maxwell, nor does the image show that he was linked to Maxwell or Epstein. 

The photo originated in an article on July 3, 2020, on the French news website 20 minutes. The caption on the photo reads: “French agent Jean-Luc Brunel and Ghislaine Maxwell on Jeffrey Epstein’s island in the mid-2000s. – Photos provided to ‘20 Minutes.’”

Brunel was a French modeling agent who was arrested by French authorities in December 2020 as part of the investigation into Epstein. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s accusers, said in a court filing that Brunel would offer modeling work to young girls, then take them to the U.S. so he could “farm them out to his friends, especially Epstein,” Reuters reported. Brunel was imprisoned in Paris on charges of multiple attacks on Giuffre and another woman, The U.S. Sun reported on Sept. 16. 

According to Newsweek, the claim that Roberts was linked to Maxwell or Epstein began after then-President Donald Trump and QAnon-supporting attorney Lin Wood “posted a series of tweets attacking Chief Justice John Roberts in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to throw out yet another bid to overturn the election results.”

Maxwell is reportedly under close watch by guards, in light of Epstein’s death by suicide while in federal custody in 2019. On Nov. 22, Maxwell’s family appealed to the United Nations for help to get her released on bail. 

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Allen, Peter and Aliki Kraterou. “Epstein pal Jean-Luc Brunel ‘who shared Prince Andrew sex slave Virginia Roberts’ is charged with raping a teenager.” The U.S. Sun. 16 Sep 2021.

Berry, Phillippe. “When Ghislaine Maxwell was alongside Jeffrey Epstein, Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel was never far away.” 20 minutes. Updated 19 Dec 2020. 

Cohen, Luc. “Ghislaine Maxwell sex crimes trial highlights conditions at Brooklyn jail.” Reuters. 18 Nov 2021.

Department of Justice. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. “Ghislaine Maxwell Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors.” Press Release. 2 Jul 2020. 

Fichera, Angelo. “False Claim Targets Gates Using Epstein Connection.” FactCheck.org. 6 May 2021.

Fichera, Angelo. “Photo Manipulated to Show Schiff With Epstein.” FactCheck.org. 6 May 2021.

Li, David K. “Ghislaine Maxwell’s family appeals to United Nations for help getting her out on bail.” NBC News. 23 Nov 2021. 

Palmer, Ewan. “Fact Check: Does Photo Show Chief Justice John Roberts on Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Island?” Newsweek. 18 Dec 2020.

Quinn, Caitlin. “Social Media Posts Spread False Claim About Fauci’s Wife.” FactCheck.org. 10 Jul 2020.

Reuters. “French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who knew Jeffrey Epstein, is detained.” 17 Dec 2020.

Spencer, Saranac Hale. “Chris Wallace Pictured With Clooney, Not Epstein.” FactCheck.org. 5 Oct 2020.

Supreme Court of the United States. “Current Members.” Supremecourt.gov. Accessed 23 Nov 2021.

Willsher, Kim. “France detains modelling agent in Jeffrey Epstein inquiry.” The Guardian. 17 Dec 2020. 

The post Posts Misidentify Man Shown in Photo with Ghislaine Maxwell appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

A photo of Chris Wallace circulating on social media purports to show the Fox News anchor with Jeffrey Epstein. He was actually pictured with George Clooney.

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Fox News anchor Chris Wallace moderated the first presidential debate of 2020 and has been the target of misinformation since then.

After the Sept. 29 debate, partisan social media accounts began posting pictures of Wallace boarding or getting off a boat, making the bogus claim that he was with Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier who died in federal custody as he faced sex-trafficking charges. We’ve written before about similar instances in which social media posts have sought to discredit political figures by tying them to Epstein.

In this case, Wallace was actually pictured with George Clooney at the actor’s house in Lake Como, Italy, in 2012.

Shortly after the trip, Wallace told Politico reporter Patrick Gavin, “It was great. It was everything you would imagine it would be. Great food, great wine, and great talk.” The video of that discussion includes the two photos that are now circulating with the false claim that they show Wallace with Epstein.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more.

Sources

Fichera, Angelo. “Photo Manipulated to Show Schiff With Epstein.” FactCheck.org. 2 Dec 2019.

Hale Spencer, Saranac. “Bogus Photo Combines Trump, Epstein Images.” FactCheck.org. 10 Jul 2019.

Di Giovanni, Janine. “Crazy for Lake Como.” Vanity Fair. 15 Sep 2007.

“Chris Wallace on his vacation with George Clooney.” Politico. 17 Aug 2012.

The post Chris Wallace Pictured With Clooney, Not Epstein appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Social media posts falsely claim that Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is the sister of Dr. Christine Grady, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wife. Maxwell and Grady are not siblings.

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British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested July 2 in New Hampshire on multiple charges related to the sexual abuse of girls and young women by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The announcement of Maxwell’s arrest was quickly followed by various rumors on social media, including the bogus claim she has contracted COVID-19, as we reported.

A social media post on Facebook now falsely claims that Maxwell is the sister of Dr. Christine Grady, the wife of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a prominent figure during the coronavirus pandemic, has been the target of fake claims himself, as public backlash to COVID-19 mitigation measures has grown.

The Facebook post shows a photo of Fauci and Grady with the caption: “Dr Fauci is married to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister.” Another post claims: “Dr. Anthony Fauci is married to Ghislaine Maxwell sister who changed her name from Christine Maxwell to Christine Grady[.] There Are No Coincedences.”

But Grady and Maxwell are not sisters.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was born in France in 1961 and attended the University of Oxford, is the daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell.

Robert Maxwell, who was a member of Parliament in the 1960s, ran the Maxwell Communication Corporation, which included the Mirror Group Newspapers, Macmillan book publishers, and the New York Daily News. While at sea on his yacht in November 1991, Robert Maxwell disappeared, and his body was recovered in the Atlantic Ocean. 

Ghislaine Maxwell moved to the U.S. after her father’s death and became a close associate of Epstein, who died in prison on Aug. 10, 2019, as he awaited his trial on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell, who has denied involvement in the alleged misconduct, is accused of working together with Epstein to recruit and groom victims. 

Fauci’s wife, Christine Grady, is the daughter of John H. Grady Jr., who like Maxwell had been a successful businessman and politician. Grady was a mayor of Livingston, New Jersey. 

But the parallels, including familial relations, end there.

Reuters has reported that Christine Grady has four siblings: Joanne Grady Huskey, John H Grady III, Barbara Grady-Ayer and Robert Grady.

Ghislaine Maxwell has six living siblings: Kevin, Ian, Anne, Christine, Isabel and Phillip, according to Reuters. (Two siblings have died.)

Christine Grady is a nurse-bioethicist and chief of the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. She grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Georgetown University with degrees in nursing and biology. She also earned a master of science in nursing from Boston College and a doctorate in philosophy from Georgetown.

Grady met Fauci while caring for a patient. The pair have been married for more than 30 years and have three adult daughters. 

The bogus Facebook post is the latest example of a viral claim that — as we’ve previously written — fabricates familial and marital relationships between prominent figures. 

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

“Fact check: Dr. Christine Grady, Anthony Fauci’s wife, is not Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister.” Reuters. 8 Jul 2020.

Fichera, Angelo. “Officials Didn’t Say Epstein Associate Has COVID-19.” FactCheck.org. 6 July 2020.

Fichera, Angelo. “Social Posts Distort Facts on Political Relationships.” FactCheck.org. 20 Nov 2019. 

“Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors.” Press release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 8 Jul 2019.

“Jeffrey Epstein ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell charged in US.” BBC. 3 Jul 2020. 

“Jeffrey Epstein: Financier found dead in New York prison cell.” BBC. 10 Aug 2019. 

“John H. Grady Jr.” Obits.nj.com. Accessed 10 Jul 2020. 

Laviola, Erin. “Christine Grady, Anthony Fauci’s Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.” Heavy.com. 7 Jul 2020. 

“Our People.” Bioethics.nih.gov. Accessed 10 Jul 2020.

“Robert Maxwell.” Britannica.com. Accessed 10 Jul 2020. 

Rosenstiel, Thomas B. “Robert Maxwell, 68, Media Giant, Found Dead in Sea : Publishing: Briton vanished from his yacht. His debt-laden empire includes the N.Y. Daily News.” Los Angeles Times. 6 Nov 1991.

Schaedel, Sydney. “Fauci Didn’t Invent, Won’t Profit from Remdesivir.” FactCheck.org. 21 May 2020.

Scheiner, Matthew. “The Socialite on Epstein’s Arm.” The Cut. 15 Jul 2019. 

Stempel, Jonathan and Brendan Pierson. “Jeffrey Epstein accuser expands lawsuit against estate, alleged enablers.” Reuters. 8 Oct 2019. 

The post Social Media Posts Spread False Claim About Fauci’s Wife appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Social media posts falsely assert that Ghislaine Maxwell — the recently arrested associate of Jeffrey Epstein — has tested positive for COVID-19 in jail. The story is the product of a website that says its work is satire.

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested on July 2 and charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with aiding Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Maxwell was charged with “enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit both of those offenses, and perjury in connection with a sworn deposition.”

But officials have not said that Maxwell has tested positive for COVID-19 while in custody, despite a false claim on social media that began on a website that calls its work satire.

The story first appeared on July 3 on brownvalleyobserver.com, under the headline, “Ghislaine Maxwell has tested positive for COVID-19 in New Hampshire jail, DOJ reports.” The story was shared more than 17,000 times on Facebook, according to CrowdTangle analytics data.

The website’s disclaimer, however, describes it as an “entertainment website written to satirize news events, politics, and popular faces and ideas, and to provide commentary on social attitudes and trends.”

But the claim has spread without that disclaimer, including in the form of a viral screenshot showing the headline with a Twitter comment seemingly suggesting Maxwell was going to be killed.

A similar claim was also advanced in an image made to look like a screenshot of a news story from the BBC; the headline said Maxwell was “moved to intensive care as Coronavirus symptoms worsen.” The news organization did not report that story, and the date is listed as “11 July 2020” — which is still days away.

Epstein, a financier and convicted pedophile, was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August 2019. At the time, he was facing federal charges of sex trafficking minors. His death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, the daughter of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, was being held in a New Hampshire jail after her arrest, according to Reuters. On July 6, the Associated Press reported she had been transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Balsamo, Michael and Michael R. Sisak. “Maxwell moved to NY for Epstein-related sex abuse charges.” Associated Press. 6 Jul 2020.

“Disclaimer.” BrownValleyObserver.com. Accessed 6 Jul 2020.

“Ghislaine Maxwell Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors.” Press release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 2 Jul 2020.

“Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors.” Press release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 8 Jul 2019.

John, Tara and Bianca Britton. “Who is Ghislaine Maxwell? The woman at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.” CNN. 2 Jul 2020.

Wolfe, Jan. “Alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell being held at ‘well-run’ jail, local lawyers say.” Reuters. 3 Jul 2020.

The post Officials Didn’t Say Epstein Associate Has COVID-19 appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Instagram posts erroneously claim the “SAME DOCTOR” performed the autopsies on “JFK, MLK, Epstein, AND George Floyd.” The doctor referenced, pathologist Michael Baden, has connections to those four cases — but he only performed an autopsy on Floyd, as a secondary examination for Floyd’s family.

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Dr. Michael Baden is a well-known forensic pathologist whose name has appeared in connection with many high-profile cases. Most recently, he performed an independent autopsy on George Floyd on behalf of Floyd’s family.

But tweets and Instagram accounts peddling conspiracy theories are misrepresenting his role in three previous cases, falsely claiming that Baden conducted the autopsies on President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jeffrey Epstein.

“SAME DOCTOR!” reads a screenshot of a tweet shared in an Instagram post. “The autopsies of JFK, MLK, Epstein, AND George Floyd were all performed by Dr. Michael Baden.” A similar post from an account pushing the QAnon conspiracy theory shared the false claim with a caption that said, “When you want to push a narrative – it’s important to have consistent actors.”

Baden does have connections to all four of the cases mentioned, as we’ll explain, but he only conducted an autopsy on Floyd, which followed an official autopsy conducted by the medical examiner’s office of Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed May 25 during an arrest in Minneapolis. Four former police officers have now been charged in the case, including Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes and has been charged with second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office performed its autopsy the next day, May 26.

Baden and another pathologist, Dr. Allecia Wilson, were hired by Floyd’s family to conduct an independent autopsy — which they performed on May 31.

While both examinations described a homicide as a result of police restraint, the specific findings varied.

On June 1, the team representing Floyd’s family announced the preliminary findings from the independent autopsy, which found that Floyd died of “asphyxia due to neck and back pressure.” The pathologists determined that the pressure “interfered with his breathing and blood flow to the brain” and that Floyd “died at the scene.”

The same day, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office in a press release said the cause of death was “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” — meaning his heart stopped. It also made note of “other significant conditions,” including “[a]rteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease; fentanyl intoxication; recent methamphetamine use.”

As for Baden’s role in the Kennedy, King and Epstein cases, the social media posts distort the facts.

Baden was the chairman of the Forensic Pathology Panel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That committee in the late 1970s re-investigated the deaths of Kennedy, who was killed in 1963, and of King, who was killed in 1968.

But the actual autopsy on Kennedy was conducted by two Navy pathologists — Cmdr. James J. Humes and Cmdr. J. Thornton Boswell — as well as a U.S. Army physician, Lt. Col. Pierre A. Finck.

The autopsy on King was performed by Dr. Jerry T. Francisco, who was the medical examiner for Shelby County, Tennessee.

In the case of Epstein, the financier and sex offender who died in prison in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges, his autopsy was done by the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. The office concluded Epstein committed suicide by hanging himself.

In an August 2019 statement provided to FactCheck.org and other outlets, Dr. Barbara Sampson, the city’s chief medical examiner, said “[a]t the request of those representing the decedent, and with the awareness of the federal prosecutor, I allowed a private pathologist (Dr. Michael Baden) to observe the autopsy examination. This is routine practice.”

Baden said in an interview that he was hired by Epstein’s brother to observe the official autopsy. Baden publicly disagreed with the official finding that Epstein died by suicide, saying that fractures in Epstein’s neck were suggestive of a homicide. Baden later told CBS’ “60 Minutes”: “I hesitate, as usual, to make a final opinion until all the evidence is in.”

Sampson’s office has said it stands by its determination.

So it’s false to say that the “SAME DOCTOR,” Baden, conducted the “autopsies of JFK, MLK, Epstein, AND George Floyd.” While Baden played a role in re-examining two of those cases, and observed the autopsy in another, he only actually performed an autopsy on Floyd — days after one was conducted by a county medical examiner’s office.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

“60 Minutes investigates the death of Jeffrey Epstein.” 60 Minutes. CBS News. 5 Jan 2020.

“Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University. Accessed 8 Jun 2020.

Barrett, Devlin. “Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy concludes his death was a suicide by hanging.” Washington Post. 16 Aug 2019.

“Bio.” DrMichaelBaden.com. Accessed 8 Jun 2020.

Crump, Benjamin (@AttorneyCrump). “NEW: Preliminary findings from independent autopsy of George Floyd’s body, conducted by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson on May 31.” Twitter. 1 Jun 2020.

“Findings on MLK Assassination.” U.S. National Archives. Accessed 8 Jun 2020.

“Four officers charged in George Floyd’s death.” Hennepin County Attorney. 3 Jun 2020.

“JFK Assassination Records.” U.S. National Archives. Accessed 8 Jun 2020.

“JFK Autopsy Report – Appendix 9 to the Warren Commission Report.” U.S. National Archives. Accessed 8 Jun 2020.

Koerth, Maggie. “The Two Autopsies Of George Floyd Aren’t As Different As They Seem.” FiveThirtyEight. 8 Jun 2020.

Leon, Melissa. “Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicide, Dr. Michael Baden reveals.” Fox News. 30 Oct 2019.

Paybarah, Azi. “Epstein’s Autopsy ‘Points to Homicide,’ Pathologist Hired by Brother Claims.” New York Times. 30 Oct 2019.

“Press Release Report.” Hennepin County Medical Examiner. 1 Jun 2020.

“Statement from Attorney General William P. Barr on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein.” Press release, U.S. Department of Justice. 10 Aug 2019.

Statement from Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson. Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York City. Email to FactCheck.org. 12 Aug 2019.

Wamsley, Laurel. “Jeffrey Epstein Case: Expert Hired By His Family Suggests Doubt On Suicide Finding.” NPR. 30 Aug 2019.

The post Posts Distort Facts on Floyd Pathologist’s Role in Past Cases appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

There’s no evidence that Bill Gates ever visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, contrary to a viral Facebook post claiming he went there numerous times. The “flight records” cited do not show that.

Full Story 

Bill Gates and his philanthropic foundation, which has committed millions to fund treatment and vaccine research for the novel coronavirus, have been central targets of recent online falsehoods relating to the pandemic.

Now, a viral Facebook post being shared with comments disparaging Gates is revisiting the Microsoft co-founder’s connection to the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — and distorting the facts in the process.

“Flight records confirm that Bill Gates went to Epstein’s child sex trafficking island, 17 times,” claimed the Facebook text post, shared more than 40,000 times. “It’s a fact, not a theory.”

That is not a fact — and after we reached out to the Facebook user who published the post, he changed the text to instead claim that the “records” showed Gates visited the island “multiple times.” But that’s also incorrect.

More than 100 pages of flight logs for Epstein’s private plane, among other records from a lawsuit brought by one of Epstein’s victims, were unsealed by a federal appeals court last year.

Those flight records, from 1995 to 2013, report one instance of Gates flying on Epstein’s aircraft — and not to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. The March 2013 flight actually went from Teterboro Airport, in New Jersey, to Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.

When we contacted the Facebook user who shared the post for any evidence backing up his claim, he told us that previous “posters” had also “claimed the same” and sent us a link to flight logs for Epstein’s plane that were uploaded in 2015 by the website Gawker. But those logs, which documented periods from 1997 to 2005, do not show any references to Gates.

Screenshots of the initial post also have spread on Facebook. A similar unsupported claim appeared on Reddit in early April, declaring, “Bill Gates, who is running the CoVid-19 scam, frequented Epstein Island.”

Epstein, who was facing federal charges for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of young girls, died in August 2019 in what officials declared a suicide in his prison cell.

Over the years, Epstein had courted many high-profile individuals, including former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump.

The New York Times last year documented “numerous” meetings between Gates and Epstein that began in 2011 — after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl for sex in 2008. Epstein also reportedly met with officials from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In regards to the flight from New Jersey to Florida, Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Gates, told the Times that Gates wasn’t aware it was Epstein’s plane. She was quoted as saying, “Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so.”

“Gates recognizes that entertaining Epstein’s ideas related to philanthropy gave Epstein an undeserved platform that was at odds with Gates’s personal values and the values of his foundation,” Arnold said.

Speaking during a November 2019 public event hosted by the Times, Gates himself described his meetings with Epstein as a “mistake in judgement,” and one borne out of his belief that the discussions would lead to “billions of dollars” for global health efforts.

“That was a mirage,” Gates said. “None of that money ever appeared, and I gave him some benefit by the association, so I made a doubly wrong mistake there.”

The Epstein flight records have been the subject of previous false claims on social media.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Brown, Julie K. “For years, Jeffrey Epstein abused teen girls, police say. A timeline of his case.” Miami Herald. 28 Nov 2018.

Flight logs for Jeffrey Epstein | Nov. 1995 – Aug. 2013. Case 18-2868. Posted 9 Aug 2019.

Flitter, Emily and James B. Stewart. “Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past.” New York Times. 12 Oct 2019.

“Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors.” Press release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 8 Jul 2019.

New York Times Events. “Bill Gates Talks Philanthropy, Microsoft, and Taxes | DealBook.” YouTube. 6 Nov 2019.

“Statement from Attorney General William P. Barr on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein.” Press release, U.S. Department of Justice. 10 Aug 2019.

The post False Claim Targets Gates Using Epstein Connection appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

A doctored photo circulating on Facebook purports to show Rep. Adam Schiff with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The original photo shows Schiff with his father.

Full Story 

A viral photo shared on Facebook has been manipulated to show Rep. Adam Schiff sitting on a couch alongside the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Some sharing the photo deemed it evidence that the two were apparently “buddies.”

But the original photo actually showed Schiff, a Democrat from California, with his father, Ed Schiff, during Thanksgiving last year. Schiff posted the picture in November 2018 on Twitter; he previously shared a photo of his father on Facebook.

Eve and I are spending a wonderful Thanksgiving with my 90 year old Dad, Ed, and cousins Karen and Julia. Alexa is away for her studies and Eli is our photographer! Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/6LYg1DzMCh

— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) November 22, 2018

The altered photo swaps the elder Schiff’s face with that of Epstein, and includes a sex toy that was not in the original image.

Epstein, a financier with connections to high-profile politicians, died in what officials ruled a suicide in a federal prison in Manhattan; he was being held on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee, recently has gained national attention for his role overseeing part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

We’ve previously debunked other claims involving Epstein, including a widely circulated — and bogus — image that was edited to show Epstein with Trump and Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

“Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors.” Press release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 8 Jul 2019.

Schiff, Adam (@AdamSchiff). “Eve and I are spending a wonderful Thanksgiving with my 90 year old Dad, Ed, and cousins Karen and Julia. Alexa is away for her studies and Eli is our photographer! Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!” Twitter. 22 Nov 2018. 

The post Photo Manipulated to Show Schiff With Epstein appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Robert Sweet, a federal judge who was overseeing a civil case against Jeffrey Epstein, was not “killed,” as a headline claims, nor did he die in August, as other recently published stories suggest. Sweet died of natural causes in March at age 96.

Full Story

Misinformation has proliferated online since Jeffrey Epstein — a well-connected financier who was facing sex trafficking charges — hung himself in a Manhattan prison on Aug. 10.

Shortly after his death, a story began circulating online with a false headline that claims a judge overseeing a case involving Epstein was “killed.” And other recently published stories suggest that the judge died this month, which isn’t true either.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet was 96 when he died in Ketchum, Idaho, on March 24.

The coroner for Blaine County, Idaho, where Ketchum is located, confirmed to us that the judge died of natural causes. There was no autopsy, coroner Russell Mikel said, explaining that an autopsy isn’t necessary if the deceased was of “advanced age,” had a known medical condition that would contribute to the death, or if there was no forensic reason.

Many of the stories that have been posted in the last week reference a Politico article that reported his death back when it happened five months ago, but those recent stories fail to provide the correct time frame.

Instead, they have headlines like this: “Jeffrey Epstein Judge Dies Suddenly.” And the stories misleadingly say the death occurred “Sunday.”

Although the headline doesn’t make it clear, Sweet wasn’t presiding over the criminal sex-trafficking case that was pending against Epstein. Rather, he was handling a civil suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that was brought by one of Epstein’s accusers in 2015. That case was reassigned on July 9 to another judge, Loretta Preska, who complied with a mandate from an appellate court that some of the records in the case be unsealed.

The court docket shows the last thing Sweet did in the case was deny a motion from one of Epstein’s co-defendants on Feb. 26.

He died about a month later while on vacation.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Fried, Joseph. “Robert W. Sweet, Mayor’s Deputy Turned Federal Judge, Is Dead at 96.” New York Times. 25 Mar 2019.

“Judge Robert Sweet Killed 2019, His Sealed Documents Unsealed Regarding Israeli Mossad Linked Ghislaine Maxwell & Jeffrey Epstein’s Elite International Pedophile Ring.” Camelotdaily.com. 10 Aug 2019.

Giuffre v. Maxwell. 1:15-cv-07433. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Docket. Accessed 19 Aug 2019.

Mikel, Russell. Coroner, Blaine County, Idaho. Interview with FactCheck.org. 16 Aug 2019.

The post Judge in Civil Epstein Case Died in March appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Summary

In the absence of information about how sex offender Jeffrey Epstein managed to die in prison by an apparent suicide on Aug. 10, outlandish conspiracy theories have cropped up across the political spectrum.

Among the more prominent theories are claims that the Clintons or President Donald Trump is somehow involved. Trump himself shared a comedian’s tweet peddling the baseless suggestion that former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were responsible.

When a reporter asked Trump about that on Aug. 13, the president said he had “no idea” if the Clintons were involved and referenced trips that Bill Clinton had taken on Epstein’s plane.

It’s true that Clinton had ties to Epstein, a wealthy financier who stood accused of sexually abusing dozens of young girls, and that the former president had traveled on Epstein’s plane. But Epstein had ties to Trump, too, and to other politicians who have been named in recently released court documents.

The relationships to Clinton and Trump don’t explain Epstein’s death, and the conspiracy theories being used as political weapons are, of course, unsubstantiated. Here’s what we know about those connections.

Analysis

Jeffrey Edward Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at a federal prison in New York at about 6:30 a.m. Aug. 10, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which said life-saving measures were initiated before Epstein was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead. The Federal Bureau of Prisons deemed the death an “apparent suicide.”

Epstein was reportedly on suicide watch following a July 23 incident in which he was found semiconscious with marks on his neck, but was taken off suicide watch days before his death. The New York City Chief Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on Aug. 11, saying in a statement that its determination is still “pending further information.” Update, Aug. 19: The office then said in an Aug. 16 statement that the official cause of death for Epstein was “hanging” and that the manner of death was “suicide.”

Attorney General William Barr, who said he was “appalled” that the death occurred under the federal prison’s watch, has instructed the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate. He has cited “serious irregularities” at the facility. Members of Congress have also demanded answers.

A financier who got his start at Bear Stearns, Epstein lived in exorbitant luxury. He reported total assets of $559 million to the court when he was requesting bail in July and owned five lavish properties at the time of his death.

His primary home was on a private island in the Caribbean, but he also had a six-story mansion assessed at $75 million in New York City, a ranch in New Mexico, a gated house in Palm Beach and an apartment near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Before his downfall, Epstein would shuttle a bevy of famous friends between the houses and around the world on his private jet — among them were Prince Andrew, actor Kevin Spacey, former President Bill Clinton and, at least once, President Donald Trump.

The Clinton Connection

The earliest reference that we were able to find of a connection between Bill Clinton and Epstein was in 1995, when the president was running for reelection. Epstein reportedly attended a fundraising dinner for Clinton in Palm Beach, Florida, with about a dozen other people hosted by wealthy businessman Ronald Perelman.

The following year, about a month before Clinton’s reelection in November 1996, Epstein gave $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee — it was one of about 450 contributions of that size that the DNC collected from individuals in that two-year election cycle, according to records from the Federal Election Commission. Epstein’s prior political contributions also had favored Democratic candidates or causes (although not exclusively), and he typically gave $1,000 donations.

Before the next presidential election in 2000, Epstein gave $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $20,000 to a PAC that supported Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Senate, and $25,000 to another Democratic committee supporting Senate candidates, along with several other smaller contributions.

By 2002, after Clinton had left office, the former president began to be listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private plane, a fact confirmed by Clinton’s spokesman on Twitter in July. Between Feb. 9, 2002, and Nov. 4, 2003, we counted a total of six trips; two of them were just one-way flights, though. In all, there were a total of 26 flights taken during the six trips, since several trips included multiple stops.

The flight logs for Epstein’s plane were recently unsealed in a lawsuit brought by one of his accusers.

Here’s what we found:

• Feb. 9, 2002 — Clinton hopped a flight from Miami to Westchester, New York, where he lives.
• March 19, 2002 — Clinton was listed as flying from New York to London and then returning two days later.
• May 22, 2002 — Clinton flew from Japan to Hong Kong. The next day he flew to Singapore (by way of Shenzhen, China), where he gave a speech. On May 25, he left for Brunei, by way of Bangkok.
• July 13, 2002 — He attended a wedding in Morocco and then hopped a flight to New York, stopping in the Azores.
• Sept. 21, 2002 — Clinton left for a nine-day trip to Africa with actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, visiting Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa. While there, he worked on HIV and AIDS prevention projects, democratization, and economic development. He finished the trip in England, where he addressed the Labour Party during its annual conference. In a 2002 profile of Epstein, Clinton is quoted as saying through a spokesman, “Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science. I especially appreciated his insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa to work on democratization, empowering the poor, citizen service, and combating HIV/AIDS.” According to the flight records, this was the longest trip Clinton took on Epstein’s plane, and it accounted for 11 of the 26 total flights.
• Nov. 4, 2003 — About a year after the Africa trip, Clinton took what appears to be his last trip on Epstein’s plane. He flew from Brussels to Oslo, where he had a two-day visit with officials to work on his project to prevent HIV and AIDS in developing countries. He then flew to Hong Kong, by way of Siberia, and finished the trip in Beijing.

Shortly after Epstein’s death, Trump sowed confusion about Clinton’s use of the plane, saying to reporters:

Trump, Aug. 13: I know he was on his plane 27 times and he said he was on the plane four times. But when they checked the plane logs, Bill Clinton — who was a very good friend of Epstein — he was on the plane about 27 or 28 times. So why did he say “four times”?

And then the question you have to ask is: Did Bill Clinton go to the island? Because Epstein had an island that was not a good place, as I understand it. And I was never there. So you have to ask: Did Bill Clinton go to the island? That’s the question. If you find that out, you’re going to know a lot.

There is no evidence that Clinton visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. None of the flight logs list Clinton as a passenger on a Virgin Islands-bound plane, and the former president’s spokesman said in July that Clinton “has never been to Little St. James Island.”

The president has also advanced the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the Clintons have killed dozens of their political adversaries — he retweeted a post that included the hashtags #ClintonBodyCount and #ClintonCrimeFamily.

When the myth-busting website Snopes addressed this conspiracy theory back in 1998, it had already been around for 20 years, according to the Snopes story. So, the conspiracy theory just passed the 40-year mark and keeps growing with new deaths each time someone remotely related to the Clintons dies.

Recently, we debunked a claim that tried to tie the 2017 suicide of a surgeon to the Clintons. The doctor’s death shared only this thin connection to them: He had worked in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake and co-authored an opinion piece that was critical of the humanitarian response. At the time, Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, and the Clinton Foundation had undertaken some projects to rebuild Haiti. As we wrote, there was no direct connection between the doctor and the Clintons, and the New York City Police Department confirmed that the death was a suicide.

Earlier in the timeline of the conspiracy theory is the death of Vince Foster, who had worked with Hillary Clinton as a lawyer in Arkansas and was a deputy in the White House counsel’s office during the Clinton administration. Foster killed himself in a park in Northern Virginia in 1993 after telling his sister he was depressed and seeking anti-depressants from his family doctor. Two law enforcement investigations, two congressional inquiries and an investigation led by independent counsel Ken Starr concluded that Foster died by suicide.

Still, though, the suggestion that Foster was killed by the Clintons persists.

We asked conspiracy theory researcher Karen Douglas, a social psychology professor at the University of Kent, why certain theories have such staying power. But there isn’t a clear answer.

“Conspiracy theories are likely to be more successful when they confirm what people want to believe,” Douglas said through email. “They are also likely to be successful if they are interesting/exciting and offer a ‘big’ explanation for a ‘big’ event.”

In this case, the “‘big’ event” is just a list of people who have had some connection to the Clintons and also died.

For Epstein, it’s true that he knew the Clintons — he reportedly hosted a dinner party in 2003 to honor Bill Clinton (although Clinton didn’t actually show up), and one of his charities, called The C.O.U.Q. Foundation, gave $25,000 to the Clinton Foundation in 2006 — but there is no evidence linking his death to them.

The Trump Ties

Contemporaneous photos and videos dating back nearly three decades depict a social relationship between Trump and Epstein — both of whom owned homes in Palm Beach. Trump bought his Mar-a-Lago estate in 1985, and Epstein purchased his mansion there in 1990.

A November 1992 video shows Trump and Epstein greeting one another and laughing together while at a party at Mar-a-Lago. The video, unearthed by MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” last month, depicts a more friendly relationship than the one Trump conveyed after Epstein’s July indictment.

“I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach,” Trump said at the White House on July 9. “I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan.”

Trump also spoke more positively about Epstein in 2002, when New York magazine profiled Epstein as an “international moneyman of mystery.”

“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump said then. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

Phone numbers for Trump were found in Epstein’s so-called “black book,” which Gawker published in 2015, and the president’s name once appeared on a list of attendees for an Epstein dinner party. Photos from Getty Images show Epstein and Trump together at Mar-a-Lago in January 1997 and again in 2000.

Such examples of their connection have become social media fodder in the days since Epstein’s death, reminding users of the relationship. Others tried to link the connection directly to Epstein’s death. One liberal Facebook group, for example, shared a screenshot from a 2016 lawsuit by a woman who accused Trump and Epstein of raping her in 1994, with the caption: “This is why Jeffrey Epstein died.”

That lawsuit, which was originally filed in California in April 2016 by a woman using the pseudonym Katie Johnson and later filed in New York, alleged that she was sexually abused at age 13 by both Trump and Epstein at a series of parties at Epstein’s home in Manhattan. Trump in a 2016 statement denied those claims to RadarOnline.com: “The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.”

The woman dropped her lawsuit on Nov. 4, 2016, four days before the 2016 presidential election. She shared her story the same day in an interview with DailyMail.com, claiming she was first brought to the Epstein residence by a woman she met in New York who promised to help her pursue a modeling career. The claims were never proven.

Some of the recent explosive allegations against high-profile figures in the Epstein case were made public the day before Epstein’s death — and they stemmed from records (including Epstein’s flight logs) filed in a court case involving a woman who said she was introduced to Epstein while working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Virginia Giuffre sued Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2015 for defamation before settling in 2017. In court filings, Giuffre has said she was underage and working at Mar-a-Lago when she was recruited by Maxwell to provide massages and sex to Epstein; in a 2016 deposition, Giuffre said she never witnessed Trump having sex with underage women.

The flight logs showed that Trump flew on Epstein’s plane at least once — from Palm Beach to Newark, New Jersey, in January 1997.

There are unconfirmed reports that Trump “banned” Epstein from Mar-a-Lago at some point, but the precise details of Trump and Epstein’s “falling out,” as Trump has called it, aren’t clear. The Washington Post recently reported on a 2004 feud between the two over a waterfront mansion in Palm Beach. Trump eventually outbid Epstein at an auction for the property — not long before a local police investigation into Epstein began.

For more about claims we’ve debunked relating to Epstein’s death, see “Misinformation Flows Following Epstein’s Death.”

Update, Nov. 30: Business Insider has compiled a database with information on 2,618 flights made by Epstein’s planes between 1995 and July 6, 2019, including newly released flight records from the Federal Aviation Administration. The new flight records don’t include passenger information, though, so we don’t know who was traveling on Epstein’s planes.

Update, Dec. 23: Additional flight logs became public during the trial of Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. They showed that Trump had taken four trips on Epstein’s plane in 1993 and he had taken one trip each in 1994, 1995 and 1997. None of the flights were to Epstein’s island.  

Sources

“Epstein & Trump At Mar-A-Lago.” Getty Images. 1 Jan 1997.

“Trump, Knauss, Epstein, & Maxwell At Mar-A-Lago.” Getty Images. 12 Feb 2000.

“Inmate Death at the MCC New York.” Press release, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice. 10 Aug 2019.

“Inside a 1992 party with Trump, Jeffrey Epstein.” MSNBC. 17 Jul 2019.

Jane Doe v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein. U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. Complaint. 1:16-cv-07673-RA. 3 Oct 2016.

“Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors.” Press release, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 8 Jul 2019.

Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein. U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Complaint. 5:16-cv-00797-DMG-KS. 26 Apr 2016.

Parry, Ryan. “EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s 13-year-old ‘rape victim’ dramatically DROPS her case.” DailyMail.com. 4 Nov 2016.

Reinhard, Beth, et. al. “Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein partied together. Then an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion came between them.” Washington Post. 31 Jul 2019.

“Remarks by President Trump and Amir Al Thani of the State of Qatar Before Bilateral Meeting.” WhiteHouse.gov. 9 Jul 2019.

“Remarks by President Trump Before Air Force One Departure.” WhiteHouse.gov. 13 Aug 2019.

“Statement from Attorney General William P. Barr on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein.” Press release, U.S. Department of Justice. 10 Aug 2019.

Thomas Jr., Landon. “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery.” New York magazine. 28 Oct 2002.

Federal Election Commission. Individual contributions — Jeffrey Epstein. Accessed 14 Aug 2019.

Ureña, Angel (@angelurena). “Statement on Jeffrey Epstein.” Twitter. 8 Jul 2019.

Flight logs for Jeffrey Epstein. Nov. 1995 – Aug. 2013.

Fichera, Angelo. “False Story Ties Clintons to Doctor’s Death.” FactCheck.org. 18 May 2018.

Office of Independent Counsel. Report on the Death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr. 10 Oct 1997.

Douglas, Karen. Professor of social psychology, University of Kent. Interview with FactCheck.org. 14 Aug 2019.

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