Multiple AI-generated photos falsely claiming to show New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a child and his mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, along with other high-profile public figures, were shared widely on social media Monday (February 2, 2026).
The images originated on an X account labelled as parody after a huge tranche of new Epstein files was released by the Justice Department on Friday (January 30, 2026). They are clearly watermarked as AI and other elements they contain do not add up.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM: Images show Mr. Mamdani as a child and his mother with Epstein and other public figures linked to the disgraced financier.
THE FACTS: The images were created with artificial intelligence. They all contain a digital watermark identifying them as such and first appeared on a parody X account that says it creates “high quality AI videos and memes”.
