Photo showing Jeffrey Epstein and U.S. President Joe Biden together is edited

What is the claim?

An image purportedly depicting the late American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein posing with U.S. President Joe Biden is circulating on social media. A user shared the caption, "Any bets on why the Epstein list hasn't been released yet? Just asking for a friend." Archive links to these posts can be viewed here and here.

Screenshot of the viral social media posts. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, our analysis reveals that the viral image has been edited by combining separate photos of Epstein and Biden.

The photo of Epstein

Through a reverse image search, we discovered that American magazine Vanity Fair published the original photo of Epstein in a 2019 report, crediting Getty Images and the Patrick McMullan Company. The caption reads, "Jeffrey Epstein attends a film release in 2005,” showing Epstein alongside Cuban-born businessman José “Pepe” Fanjul.

Image of Epstein in the Vanity Fair report. (Source: Vanity Fair/Screenshot)

The art market website Artnet also featured the image in a 2020 article titled "Jeffrey Epstein and billionaire collector Pepe Fanjul.”

Additionally, an archived version of McMullan's website includes the photo of Epstein with Fanjul. A cropped version of this image, focusing solely on Epstein, has been widely utilized by news outlets such as The New York Post, ABC News, and Today

Joe Biden's image

Biden's image was sourced from The Friedlander Group's website, a boutique political firm based in New York. It is under the section "CEO Ezra Friedlander With US Leaders." The photo is captioned "U.S._Senator_Joseph_R._Biden__Jr._001.”

Image of Biden on The Friedlander Group website. (Source: Friedlander Group/Screenshot)

The Friedlander Group specializes in government advocacy, public & media relations, and political event management.

What about the viral image?

Regarding the viral image, it merges the above two distinct images. The background painting visible behind Biden in the original photo matches that in the viral image, clearly indicating that Epstein has been digitally inserted in place of Friedlander.

Comparison of original images of Epstein and Biden to the viral image. (Sources: X/Vanity Fair/ The Friedlander Group/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

Similar images involving Epstein have been debunked previously by Logically Facts, including images falsely depicting Epstein with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker and financier, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial, and his life has been shrouded in numerous conspiracy theories.

The verdict

The above sources show that the viral image has been edited by combining two different images to make it seem that Biden and Epstein posed together for a photo.