The Fortnite account claiming to be Jeffrey Epstein is a hoax.

Epic Games has addressed the speculation surrounding an account thought to be linked to Jeffrey Epstein, calling it a “ruse.” In a response on X, the developer clarified that an existing Fortnite player simply changed their username to “littlestjeff1,” a name that appeared in various emailed receipts from YouTube related to Epstein.

The email hints that “littlestjeff1” might have ties to Epstein’s YouTube account, leading online investigators to dig deeper into the username across different platforms. They discovered a “littlestjeff1” account on Fortnite, along with a 2019 email referencing a purchase of VBucks, though the details of the sender and recipient were redacted. This discovery fueled conspiracy theories suggesting that Epstein is still alive, as the account has been active in the game.

However, Epic Games has refuted these theories, explaining that the name change occurred “following the revelation of littlestjeff1 as a name on YouTube.” The company noted that Fortnite tracking sites only show the current username and do not retain records of previous names. Additionally, they confirmed that there is “no record” of the email addresses mentioned in the Epstein files.

“Someone’s been having fun renaming their Fortnite account, but it’s recent and not connected to the email addresses in the archive,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated on X.