What was claimed
Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Jimmy Kimmel are among the names on the Jeffrey Epstein list.
Our verdict
False. The individuals do not feature on any of the lists or documents released relating to Epstein.
A document being spread on social media lists prominent figures such as Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Barack Obama and Tom Hanks as among those who flew to Jeffrey Epstein’s island on the paedophile financier’s plane.
This is false. The so-called “Epstein Island flight list” contains several names found in official flight logs released in 2019, but adds the names of many politicians and celebrities who are not mentioned in any of the manifests.
The list began circulating after the unsealing of court documents on January 3-5, 2024, relating to a 2015 defamation action brought by one of Epstein’s alleged child sex trafficking victims Virginia Giuffre (Roberts), known for being Prince Andrew’s accuser.
Some of the social media posts, such as this one, mistakenly conflate the Epstein flight list with the court documents.
Other posts, such as here, here, here and here, share the list and speculate about some of the names on it, including Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Barack Obama and Tom Hanks, among others.
However, the Epstein Island flight list being shared online is not related to the court documents released in January, and numerous famous names on it did not appear in any of the real Epstein flight logs released back in 2019.
American news outlet Vox reported in this article that the January court documents related to Giuffre’s case against Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell has been convicted of child sex trafficking and is serving a prison term of 20 years. Her appeal will be heard in March. Multimillionaire Epstein died in August 2019 while on remand at a facility in New York on sex trafficking charges.
Epstein was accused of running an underage sex trafficking operation from Little St James, the 70-acre island he owned in the Caribbean.
The legal documents released in January do reference some of Epstein’s associates (without implying any wrongdoing), but there is no “Epstein’s Island flight list” among the documents.
The Independent newspaper reported on a list of high-profile associates named in the court documents, such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
However, the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Barack Obama and Tom Hanks do not appear in any of the documents.
The real Epstein flight logs have been available online for some years. One set was among thousands of unsealed documents related to the Giuffre-Maxwell 2015 defamation action, released in 2019.
Those logs, published online, once again do not include the names of Goldberg, Kimmel, Obama or Hanks.
AAP FactCheck has analysed those logs. They do list former US president Bill Clinton (pages 91, 93, 95, 96 and 105), model Naomi Campbell (pages 84, 91 and 100), actor Kevin Spacey (page 96) and actor-comedian Chris Tucker (page 96) — all names on the Facebook list — as having travelled on Epstein’s private jet.
Donald Trump (page 18) is also named as having flown on Epstein’s jet, but he’s not named on the Facebook list.
The New York Times reported in 2019 that a second set of flight logs was released by Epstein’s jet pilots, who were subpoenaed as part of the investigation into the financier’s sex trafficking charges, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Reuters news agency reported that those flight logs were published online by Gawker. Some 60 names from pilot flight logs appear on the list being shared on Facebook.
AAP FactCheck has also analysed the second set of flight logs, but the likes of Goldberg, Kimmel, Obama and Hanks are not mentioned.
Whoopi Goldberg has denied being on any Epstein list.
Jimmy Kimmel has threatened legal action over an American footballer’s comments that he would be included in the documents.
The claims about Obama and Hanks being in the flight logs have been debunked here and here.
Various other names on the supposed list have been debunked by other fact-checking organisations, including Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and Justin Trudeau.
The verdict
The claim that Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Jimmy Kimmel are among the names on the Jeffrey Epstein list is false.
Several fake lists have been circulating since the release of legal documents linked to Epstein in January 2024.
The names of Obama, Hanks, Goldberg, Kimmel and several others do not appear in either of these documents or any of the previously released Epstein flight logs.
False — the claim is inaccurate.
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