That's not Jeffrey Epstein pictured with Taylor Swift. It's a music executive | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: Photo shows Taylor Swift posing with Jeffrey Epstein

A Jan. 4 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a photo of Taylor Swift with her arm around a man purported to be disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Epstein and Taylor Swift,” the caption reads in Spanish.

It was shared more than 100 times in four days. Similar versions, including another post in Spanish, received thousands of additional shares.

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Our rating: False

The man shown in the photo is music executive Monte Lipman, not Epstein. The image was first shared in 2021, two years after Epstein died by suicide.

Image shows record label executive, not Epstein

Hundreds of pages of court filings related to a lawsuit against Ghislane Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator in a scheme to exploit and sexually abuse minors, were released Jan. 3 and over the ensuing week. Those records contain the names of dozens of celebrities, politicians and other public figures – but not Swift's. Her name does not appear in any of the documents made public from Jan. 3-8.

The photo, shared the day after the first batch was unsealed, does not show Epstein. The person posing with Swift is actually Lipman, the co-founder and CEO of Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group. Swift signed her record deal with Republic in 2018, according to Rolling Stone.

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The original image was posted on Instagram on Dec. 16, 2021, more than two years after Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell while awaiting trial. That image identifies the man as Lipman, as does a version also posted to X that day that describes it as new.

Photos of Lipman from credible media outlets match the man shown in the photo in question. Lipman and Swift have been photographed together multiple times in the past.

USA TODAY reached out to Universal Music Group and to the social media user who shared the post but did not immediately receive responses.

Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photo shows music CEO, not Epstein, with Taylor Swift | Fact check