A short, blurry video uploaded by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) this week has gone viral.The video shows the final moments of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. However, the clip was ruled as fake after some hours. The 12-second AI-generated video appeared on the Justice Department’s website on Monday as part of a massive release of files linked to the pedophile. The clip was posted without context, and it took the internet by surprise. Officials confirmed it had no connection to Epstein’s death.The footage showed a white haired man wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, kneeling at the foot of a bunk bed inside a jail cell and violently jerking his head. A timestamp read 4.29 am on August 10, 2019, roughly two hours before Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Manhattan jail.At first glance, the scene looked exactly like Epstein’s cell, where authorities confirmed he had hanged himself right before his trial. However, when observed closely the flaws became obvious. The orange clothes scattered on the floor looked flat and textureless, and the design of the cell door did not match official photographs of Epstein’s unit. A separate document included in the file dump later clarified that the clip was a fabricated video that circulated on social media site 4chan years ago and was flagged by investigators after being promoted by a Florida-based conspiracy theorist. A Trump administration official told The New York Post that the video had been on YouTube for years before being mistakenly uploaded to the DOJ site. It was taken down later the same day.The clip once again revived long-running conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death. The speculations mainly include the thought that Epstein was killed so he would not rat out the names of powerful people involved in his scandals. Epstein had previously been placed on suicide watch but was removed from it before his death. Two guards assigned to check on him admitted they were asleep and later falsified records.While a medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide, an independent autopsy commissioned by his brother cited a neck fracture more commonly seen in strangulation cases. These contradictions have kept conspiracy theories alive.Congress ordered the full release of Epstein-related files in November, with President Trump signing the bill shortly after. The dump revealed numerous documents and photographs, including images of Epstein with underage girls.
