Is it true that in the lists of celebrities involved in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, Mikhail Khodorkovsky appears?

At the end of January 2024, documents appeared on the Internet allegedly testifying to the connection of a Russian public figure with an American financier who was convicted of sexual operation of minors. We checked the authenticity of these evidence.

On January 27, 2024, several Telegram channels published documents allegedly proving the participation of Khodorkovsky in sexual parties with the participation of minor girls arranged by Epstein. Prochremlin blogger Alina Lipp She reported that the former co -owner of the Yukos was brought to the case thanks to the testimony of one of the victims - Joanna Silserg (she allegedly personally saw him at the event). According to the TGSTAT service, in three days this news in Telegram scored more than 3 million views. The political scientist wrote about Khodorkovsky and Epstein in their channels Dmitry Evstafiev (355,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), leading Solovyov Live Sergey Karnaukhov (274,000) and host of Channel One Ruslan Ostashko (104,000). The news was picked up Bloggers, Media And ordinary Users social networks.

Vladimir Solovyov talked about Khodorkovsky’s connection with Epstein twice: first January 28 In its Telegram channel (250,000 views), and Two days later On the air of the TV channel Russia-1. Discussing with the guests of his talk show the possible participation of Boris Nadezhdin in the elections of the President of the Russian Federation, the TV presenter recalled that the collection of signatures in support of the candidate was supported, among other politicians and blogger, Maxim Katz, he, according to Solovyov, served the interests of this old pedophile [Khodorkovsky], which lit up on the island of Epstein in 2002 ” (mark 05:15).

In early January 2024, the Court of New York Published Previously classified judicial documents in the case of financier Jeffrey Epstein and his girlfriend Gislein Maxwell, who were Recognized guilty of pedophilia, trading sexual services and the organization of meetings of influential people with minors. Documents in which mentioned More than 150 people associated with Epstein. Among them, the British Prince Andrew, producer Harvey Weinstein, former US President Bill Clinton, singer Michael Jackson, actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Willis, Kevin Spacey, Cameron Diaz and Kate Blanchett. Most of them are not accused of any crimes-only It is saidWhat they contacted with a convicted financier (he himself committed suicide in prison in 2019).

The publication of court documents provoked the appearance New Waves Conspiracy theories About the "List of Epstein" - allegedly appearing in it politicians, businessmen and artists enter the secret network of pedophiles. As a result, a lot of fakes appeared on the network about celebrities who were allegedly connected with the financier. In some cases, evidence of the involvement of the stars in the Sex Voznheryki with the participation of minors were faked-this happened, for example, with publications on physics Stephen Hawking, actor Tome Hanks and comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

According to Russian Telegram channels, the name of Mikhail Khodorkovsky is also present in the list of Epstein's contacts. The first declassified certificate allegedly proving their connection is the passenger sheet of the Epstein private aircraft flying from New York to Palm Beach on June 8, 2002. On Boeing-727, which media They called The “Lolita Express”, the financier often delivered his guests to Florida, where in his mansion I arranged Sexual meetings with minor girls. According to the passenger sheet, Khodorkovsky allegedly flew in the company of Epstein himself (in the document Designated initials JE), his assistants Sarah Kellen (SK) and three women. How noted Some bloggers, “taking into account the specifics of Epstein’s activity, can only be guessed about the age of“ women ”.”

IN documentsdeclassified by the American court on January 3, 2024, "verified" original The mentioned list. On page 11 clearly shows that there is no name of Khodorkovsky among the passengers that flight: only Epstein and his assistant Kellen are indicated there. Obviously, the name of Khodorkovsky, as well as the mention of three women, was added in the photo editor later.

The second evidence of Khodorkovsky’s involvement in Epstein’s criminal activity is an excerpt from the data of Joanna Soselg, one of the victims in 2016. A transcript The court also declassified interrogation in early 2024, and there are no mentions of Khodorkovsky in it, while the last 18 pages of the document, from 162nd to 179, were painted black. Russian bloggers They sayThat the memories of Soberg about the ex-owner of Yukos were present on the 171st page, until it was “smeared with a black square”. From such statements it follows that at the disposal of Telegram channels three weeks after declassifying the documents was an unredrined version, but bloggers do not specify how they gained access to it.

The fact that an excerpt with the mention of Khodorkovsky is a fake indicates one detail. In the invented text of the interrogation, the screenshots of which were published in Telegram, Soberg says that in the house of Epstein she met actor Kevin Spacey and it happened the same summer as a meeting with a Russian businessman. And on the 111st page of the genuine transcript, Soberg claims that at the time of interrogation on May 18, 2016, she never met Spacey.

Fabricated transcript:

Question: You mentioned Kevin Spacey. Actor Kevin Spacey?
Answer: Yes.
Question: was he among guests that evening?
Answer: No. No, but I met him in the same summer. Not sure, before or after that day.

Genuine transcript:

Question: Kevin Spacey? Perhaps I already asked you, have you ever met Kevin Spacey personally?
Answer: No.

The third evidence of Khodorkovsky’s connection with Epstein is their joint photo. Image analysis using the service Forensically Identified signs of editing the picture. With the help of a reverse search for the image in Google, we found out that the collage was assembled on the basis of photographs of the American billionaire Jeff Bezos with Canadian scientist and entrepreneur Adam Balm, made in 2007. On top of their faces in the picture, the faces of Epstein and Khodorkovsky, taken from various sources were imposed.

For the first time, the news about Khodorkovsky’s connection with the Epstein case appeared on January 27 in publications The English -language publication The Islander, under the heading of “The Russian billionaire Khodorkovsky associated with Soros, visited the infamous Island of Epstein?” The founder of the publication is whose Bowz, the Irish correspondent of the Russian State Canal RT. A few hours later, this story began to spread in Telegram, where the blogger Alina Lippa told about the sensation. 

It is noteworthy that among those who shared a fake among the first, was Timofei Vasiliev (Timothy V). In the summer of 2023 the European Union Turned on Its on its sanctions list for maintaining the Telegram channel "War with Fakes", which Mimic For a fact of a factory project. Vasiliev works in the Kremlin of the Non-Profit Organization "Dialog"-journalists-investigators discoveredthat it is responsible for the spread of propaganda and fakes on the Internet about Ukraine and Western countries. A few hours after the publication about Khodorkovsky Vasiliev, unlike most neighbors on Telegram, he nevertheless admitted that this story turned out to be a fake: “And I was used. I was too lazy to look for the source. " At the same time, a blogger calls himself an international expert in combating misinformation and Conducts Trainings and lectures on how to check information for reliability.

Thus, all the evidence of Khodorkovsky’s connection with Epstein turned out to be fabricated: his name was added to the list of passengers who used the financier’s plane, using the photo editor, the transcript of the interrogation of the victim, who recalls the communication with the ex-owner of the Yukos, was forged, and the joint photograph of the Russian and American businessmen-photo collage.

Photo on the cover: Telegram

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Politico. Pizzagate, Qanon and the ‘Epstein List’: Who The Far Right is Obsessed with Sex Trafficking
2. "Jellyfish". In social networks, fakes and insulting memes publish celebrities with financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of trafficking in people
3. "New Gazeta." "List" of Jeffrey Epstein. Which unites Bill Clinton and Donald Trump
4. "Snob". Why on the network they again discuss the “list” of the billionaire-pedophile Epstein, where his island is located and what does Stephen Hawking have to do with it