A photo showing US President Joe Biden with American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has gone viral on social media, where some users are sharing the post and questioning why the full list of Epstein's clients has not been made public.
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral photo using Google Lens, which allowed us to isolate Epstein and search for only his part of the photograph.
The search led us to a website which was selling Epstein's photo, and mentioned that it showed him with one Pepe Fajul, belonging to "the billionaire sugar industry family that left Cuba."
This photo did not show Epstein standing next to the US president.
(Source: Sellaismk.shop/Screenshot)
Using both their names as keywords led us to a Vanity Fair article about Epstein's will, which was reportedly signed two days before his death.
This report used the same photo of Epstein and Fanjul, mentioning that it was taken during a film's release in 2005.
The original photograph shows Epstein with Cuban sugar baron Pepe Fanjul.
(Source: Vanity Fair/Screenshot)
What about Biden's photo?: Since we now know that the photograph is edited, we looked for older versions of the viral claim using Factly's SACH extension, which helps users look for information related to claims.
This led us to the same image in a 2021 report by USA Today, which had debunked the same claim.
The image had been featured on The Friedlander Group's website, in an album which carried photos of its CEO, Ezra Friedlander with several world leaders, including then-US senator Joe Biden.
The photo originally shows Biden with Ezra Friedlander.
(Source: The Friedlander Group/Screenshot)
Conclusion: The viral image showing Jeffrey Epstein with US President Joe Biden is altered.
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