A conspiracy theory claiming that sex offender Jeffery Epstein is still alive kicked off after an undated drone footage of an Epstein look-alike surfaced on social media. The conspiracy theorists claimed that the American pedophile is staying on the infamous 'Epstein Island'.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on a number of charges including trafficking young women and underage girls for sexual gratification between 2002 to 2005. He was found hanging in his Manhattan jail cell in August last year. The death of the 66-year-old, who had previously attempted suicide on July 23, was ruled as suicide by hanging.
Conspiracies Surrounding Epstein's Death
The latest round of conspiracy theory emerged after an Instagram handle Chakabars shared a string of images from an undated drone footage on his page. The images showed construction being carried out on an island with a man, looking like Epstein, interacting with the workers.
The caption on the images read: "Breaking news. Mainstream Media ignored, avoided & covered this up for ten months already. A man that looks like Jeffery Epstein spotted on his island in drone footage. After his 'death' with all the hype of this story, isn't it amazing how they would completely avoid this."
"Construction still on going at Epstein Island. Even after he was supposedly killed. They faked his death. You can tell if you look at the body. Pedophile don't kill pedophiles. This is not Epstein," the captions in the subsequent images read.
Transactions Done From Epstein's Dormant Bank Account
In February, Daily Mail had reported about transactions being carried out from one of Epstein's dormant offshore bank accounts in the Virgin Islands in the months following his death.
The documents presented in the court revealed transactions of multi-million dollars from Epstein's estate to his bank, Southern County International, after his death. Even though the territory had sanctioned the bank in 2014, it remained dormant until the pedophile's suicide. Months after his death, an amount of $15.5 million from Epstein's estate was transferred to the bank in December last year. The bank sent back $2.6 million, leaving $12.9 million, reported the outlet.
Before the end of the year, a withdrawal of nearly all funds, leaving $500,000, was done. The payments were made to cater to day to day expenses including payment for cable. Judge Hermon-Purcell, who oversaw the hearing of the court case over Epstein's remaining assets, had said: 'There's no explanation for it.'
Epstein's Death Questioned on Social Media
Fueled with speculations, the latest conspiracy theory calling Epstein's death a sham gained momentum on social media with many users debating the claim.
"They reported during his suicide nobody witnessed it and the cameras were off! he's still alive !" expressed a user on Instagram, as other wrote, "Honestly don't surprise me. When you powerful with money anything is capable."
However, there were a few who also debunked the theory. "That looks nothing like him. The body is smaller. Shoulders aren't as broad. With that said that dude is still walking around chilling," wrote a user. "Look at his hair coloring on his right side. with a thick white and the grey. same in pics. he probably lost weight," said another.
"You're right! I trust the NSA just as much as I trust Metropolitan Correctional Center. They did a tremendous job keeping ol Jeffery Epstein alive," tweeted a user.
"What if Jeffery Epstein is actually still alive and that's why there's no footage of him committing suicide???? Wtf!!!!, what is going on with this world!!!!" wrote another.
