WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein received more than $250,000 from USAID.
OUR VERDICT
False. A different person with the same name is on the board of an organisation that received funds.
AAP FACTCHECK - Late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did not receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from a US government aid agency, despite what's being said online.
The claim is based on a document about a different person with the same name.
The misinformation is being shared as the Trump administration attempts to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is responsible for delivering foreign aid and development assistance.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order pausing all foreign assistance for 90 days, with some exemptions.
The agency has been targeted by the new Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk, who announced on February 2 that he was working to shut down USAID.
The changes have led to many false or misleading claims about the agency's spending and project funding, some of which have been amplified by Mr Musk.
This latest claim appears in various social media posts.
"USAID paid Jeffery Epstein $265,915 in 2023 but he supposedly died on August 10 2019. Dif [sic] they fake the Epstein Death? Is he still alive? This is crazy!," one February 6 Facebook post is captioned.
"Look who was funding Epstein and trafficking women, children and babies for the devil," another reads.
"The prior administration's abuse of USAID is horrific."
Many of the posts include a screenshot from an anonymously run conservative website called DataRepublican, which allows users to search for entities that have received USAID funding and their connections to other organisations or companies.
The website's validity is unverified.
The screenshots suggest Jeffrey E Epstein received $265,915 from USAID in 2023.
Despite having the same name, the Jeffrey E Epstein listed on the website is not the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail after being arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The LinkedIn page of Mr Epstein, who often goes by Jeff, shows he is clearly a different man who works at a venture capital firm.
Mr Epstein is the head of corporate development and operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and a lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He also holds board positions at a number of companies including Okta, Twilio and Kaiser Permanente.
His role at Kaiser Permanente, which is a health insurance provider, was flagged in the Data Republican website because the company is allegedly associated with other organisations that have received USAID funding.
The $265,915 figure is Mr Epstein's salary as a board director in 2023, according to the company's tax filings, and not a direct payment from USAID.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked claims about USAID funding celebrities' visits to Ukraine.
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