Multiple pro-PML-N accounts on social media platform X were sharing a clip since February 1, of cricketer Wasim Akram, claiming that he said PTI founder Imran Khan visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island. However, Akram said no such thing.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender and United States financier, was accused of running a years-long sex trafficking network involving underage girls, with abuse linked to multiple properties in the US and overseas.
He died in August 2019 in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal trafficking charges. His close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was later convicted by a US court for recruiting and grooming minors for Epstein’s abuse and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.
Millions of new files relating to Epstein have been released by the US Department of Justice, showing many of the world’s most renowned individuals.
On Feb 1, a user who appears to be a PML-N supporter based on his bio and past posts shared a video of Wasim in a podcast with the following caption: “Imran Khan - Modi - Epstein List. With Modi’s name now also linked to Epstein, the two are being portrayed as spiritual brothers because of their ties to the Jewish community.
According to Wasim, Imran also went to Epstein Island. He claimed, ‘Imran Khan and some youngsters were flown to Epstein Island on Maxwell’s private plane’. How shameful it is that the same person then holds a tasbih in his hand and lectures others about integrity.”
The post gained 46,000 views.
He shared the same video again with the same caption, gaining 28,000 views.
The same clip with a similar claim was shared by another PML-N supporter with the following caption: “In 1988, Imran Khan took us on his private plane with a woman over an island (Wasim Akram). Was it Epstein Island? Was that woman’s name Ghislaine Maxwell? As soon as more truth comes out in front of the public, PTI supporters will start trying to prove Jeffrey Epstein was an angel serving humanity.”
The clip gained 83,000 views.
The video was shared with similar claims by multiple pro-PML-N accounts on X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the Epstein files.
A reverse image search was conducted to trace the source of the video, which yielded the full podcast of Wasim by an Australian YouTube channel on Nov 24, 2022. The video was titled: “Imran Said Let’s Go To A Nightclub“ | Wasim on Cocaine, Sledging & Sir Viv”.
In the podcast, the viral clip starts at the 17:35-minute mark, where Wasim can be seen talking about clubbing with Imran and does not mention anything related to Epstein or Maxwell.
In the podcast, Wasim mentions their visit to an island in 1988, whereas Epstein bought the islands in 1998; Maxwell was in the UK at that time. She moved to the US after the death of her father in 1991 and met Epstein thereafter.
Furthermore, the same clip was shared with the same claim in 2022, with Wasim debunking it at the time as false on his official X handle.
In addition, the pictures used in the collage with Wasim’s video, which show Imran with Maxwell, were also found to be old from a party in London in 1990.
A reverse image search yielded the images of the party that were uploaded on Shutterstock, a leading global provider of licensed images, videos, music, and other media.
According to the description, the party was hosted by Taki Theodoracopulos, a Greek writer and publisher, to mark the fall of communism at the Savoy Hotel, a year after the Berlin Wall was demolished — October 28, 1990.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a viral video of cricketer Wasim shows him saying that Imran visited Epstein’s island is false. Wasim said nothing of the sort and did not mention or even hint at Epstein, Maxwell or Epstein’s island in his video reminiscing about a trip to an island with Imran on a woman’s personal plane.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
