In Israel? Fake body? Bogus death date?: Explaining the stupid Jeffrey Epstein is alive ‘proof’

Despite the overwhelming evidence that he died in his prison cell in 2019, a certain delusional subset of the internet is convinced that Jeffrey Epstein is alive and possibly living in Israel.

With the release of over three million files pertaining to the life and crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, the case is being over-analysed and picked apart by armchair experts on social media. To cut through the noise, let’s get the basic facts right first: Jeffrey Epstein died in August 2019, a month after he was detained for abhorrent s*x crimes dating back years.

“Saturday, August 10, 2019, at approximately 6.30 am, inmate Jeffrey Edward Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell … subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff,” the official statement from the Metropolitan Correctional Center read back in 2019.

Despite that, there’s been a wave of misinformation spreading on Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok like wildfire. The so-called “evidence” seems to boil down to three things: An alleged picture of him hiding out in Israel, the belief that someone swapped his body out, and a mistake in the official report.

Let’s address each point.

The Jeffrey Epstein alive in Israel pic is fake

Credit: X/Google Gemini

Starting with the most recent claim, people on social media fell for a completely fabricated picture of Epstein hiding out in Israel. Admittedly, it did look like him, but the photo was proven to be AI-generated.

Google Gemini confirmed “most or all of it was edited or generated using Google’s AI tools.”

At the same time, people claimed that Epstein was playing Fortnite in Tel Aviv. Again, it was debunked.

“Hey Official Fortnite here – this was a ruse by a Fortnite player. A few days ago, an existing Fortnite account owner changed their username from something totally unrelated to littlestjeff1, following the revelation of littlestjeff1 as a name on YouTube,” Fortnite confirmed.

“These Fortnite trackers only display your current name, not any prior changes to it. We have no record of the subject’s email addresses referenced in the public document existing in the Epic account system. Since the public document releases, people have created Fortnite accounts with similar-looking email addresses and user names.”

Officials explained the death data issue

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🚨🇺🇸 New Epstein files show a draft US Attorney statement on his death dated Aug 9, 2019, but he was officially found dead on Aug 10.
Calm down, conspiracy folks: it was clearly a typo in a draft press release. pic.twitter.com/edmOqrP3cq

— Terror Alarm (@Terror_Alarm) February 8, 2026

In the official press release about Epstein’s death, people spotted that it was dated for “Friday, August 9, 2019”, 24 hours before it was actually announced. This led people to speculate that Jeffrey Epstein was alive, but the Department of Justice (DOJ) has since addressed it.

“Official statements regarding the death of Jeffrey Epstein were edited and circulated over several email chains within the Southern District of New York beginning August 10, 2019,” the DOJ confirmed to the BBC.

“While initial drafts of the statement list the previous date, this was merely an unfortunate typo that was later updated to reflect the correct date before being publicised. Any suggestion that the department drafted a statement in advance of Jeffrey Epstein’s death is false.”

Others have claimed the body was swapped out

Credit: Shutterstock

Another completely fabricated claim saw users on 4chan speculate that Jeffrey Epstein had left the prison alive. Someone else’s body was then placed in the cell, essentially faking the disgraced financier’s death.

Again, the theories are complete rubbish. His death was confirmed by both the New York City medical examiner and the Justice Department Inspector General. Epstein’s own legal team sent pathologist Michael Baden to observe the autopsy.

“I stand firmly behind our determination of the cause and manner of death for Mr Epstein. The cause is hanging, the manner is suicide,” Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson confirmed.

So yeah, maybe stay off Reddit and Twitter if you’re looking for the real facts.

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Featured image credit: SDNY/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock