Is the photo of young Zohran Mamdani with Epstein, Gates and Clinton real?
WASHINGTON, DC: A viral image circulating online claims to show young Zohran Mamdani, New York City's mayor, posing alongside convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, former US President Bill Clinton, and tech billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. The image has spread widely amid heightened public attention on Mamdani and renewed scrutiny of Epstein's connections with prominent figures. But is the photo authentic, or has it been digitally manipulated? Here's what we found.
Claim: A photo shows young Zohran Mamdani posing with Jeffrey Epstein and his associates
In July 2026, a viral image circulated online claiming to show a young Zohran Mamdani, New York City's mayor, standing on a beach with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, former US President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos.
On July 3, 2026, one X user shared the image with the caption, "Is that you @NYCMayor?" Similar versions of the image had already been circulating on X and Threads since January 2026.
The image gained renewed attention following the release of US Justice Department documents that mentioned Mamdani's mother, acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair. Her name appeared in a 2009 email discussing a film afterparty hosted by Ghislaine Maxwell.
However, the records did not accuse Nair of any wrongdoing or suggest that she had any involvement in criminal activity.
The documents were later used to fuel a coordinated misinformation campaign on social media. Users circulated AI-generated images falsely claiming to show Mamdani and his mother with Epstein.
Those fabricated images were previously debunked by News.meaww.com in February 2026.
Fact Check: The image is fake
Although many social media users believed the photo was real, it is fake. The image first appeared on @DumbFxckFinder, an X account that says it creates "AI-powered ... videos & memes." The account originally posted the image on January 31, 2026.
Google's Gemini AI detected a SynthID watermark in the image, showing that it was created or edited using Google's AI tools. The original post also included small "DFF" labels in the top-left and top-right corners to identify the source. These labels were removed from the versions that later spread widely online.
The image also contains several signs of AI manipulation. For example, Bill Gates appears to be missing the little finger on his left hand, and Jeffrey Epstein's arm does not interact naturally with Bill Clinton's body. Gates' shirt collar also appears to have an extra button or buttonhole that does not look realistic.
The timeline also does not match. Zohran Mamdani was born in 1991, so if the image is meant to show him at about 10 years old, it would have been taken around 2001.
However, Jeff Bezos is shown as mostly bald, even though photos from 2001 show that he still had much more hair. These inconsistencies confirm that the image is not authentic.
