Venezuela Did Not Offer $50 Million Reward for Epstein Files
By Hope Talbot
What happened: Social media users are falsely claiming that the government of Venezuela is offering a $50 million reward for the unreleased “Epstein files,” referring to the FBI files purportedly relating to the crimes of the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Context: On Aug. 7, the U.S. State Department boosted a reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration said it would pay as much as $50 million for Maduro’s arrest, up from a $25 million reward offered under the Biden administration.
The State Department alleges that Maduro, who has served as Venezuela’s president since 2013, is involved in drug trafficking and is affiliated with the Cartel de los Soles, a Venezuelan drug cartel.
A closer look: In the wake of the increased reward, social media users on both the right and the left started claiming that Venezuela had retaliated by offering a $50 million reward for the release of the Epstein files, which some users speculate could incriminate President Donald Trump, a former Epstein friend.
Conservative commentator Jackson Hinkle said in an X post, “BREAKING: VENEZUELA has offered $50 MILLION for the UNRELEASED EPSTEIN FILES.” The post garnered 4 million views and 100,000 likes in four days.
Left-wing U.K. site Skwawkbox.org published an article titled, “Venezuela responds to Trump’s $50m bounty on Maduro – with $50m reward for unreleased Epstein files.”
Actually: The claim that Venezuela is offering a reward for the Epstein files is baseless.
In an Aug. 7 Telegram post, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil stated that the Trump administration’s increased reward for Maduro’s arrest was a “desperate distraction” after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi “promised a nonexistent ‘secret list’ of Epstein.” However, Gil did not say anything about issuing a reward for the Epstein files.
A NewsGuard review of official Venezuelan government statements, press releases, and social media accounts did not find any announcement that the government is offering $50 million for Epstein-related documents.
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