In February 2026, shortly after the worldwide cinema premiere of "Melania," a documentary following U.S. first lady Melania Trump in the days before the start of the second administration of President Donald Trump in 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that the movie's director, Brett Ratner, appeared in the Epstein files.
The U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3 million files in late January 2026 related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.
One X user who shared photos from the files reportedly showing Ratner and Epstein wrote: "Brett Ratner, the director of many films including the new Melania documentary, appears in newly released images with Epstein and redacted victims."
Claims that Ratner appeared in the Epstein files also circulated on Facebook, Threads (archived), Instagram (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Some posts and news reports (archived) shared a larger, clearer photo of Ratner and Epstein, allegedly also from the Department of Justice's files.
(Reddit user u/AnonRetro)
Searches of the Epstein Library, the site hosting the files the DOJ has released about Epstein, did not reveal the larger, clearer photo of Ratner and Epstein that outlets like the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Post and the Daily Beast used in their reporting. Searches did find what appeared to be smaller versions of that photo within the files (archived, archived, archived).
Ratner reportedly told both Fox News and "Piers Morgan Uncensored" that the larger photo showed him and was taken sometime between 2005 and 2007.
We are seeking to independently verify whether the larger, clearer version of the photo of Ratner and Epstein from news reports also appears in the DOJ's files. In the meantime, we leave this claim unrated.
Inclusion through name or likeness in the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing. Snopes contacted a representative for Ratner for further comment on the photos and will update this report if we get a reply.
We also contacted the DOJ and several media outlets to ask about the larger, clearer photo of Ratner and Epstein and will update this report if we get a response.
The photos in the files
Two files on the DOJ's website — "EFTA00245476" and "EFTA00245478" — included photos that appeared similar to the larger, clearer photo included in some news reports.
Both files were titled "Ratner/[REDACTED]." Within those files, images labeled DSC01416 and DSC01418 most closely resembled the larger photo from media reports. The man identified as Ratner wore a white collared shirt and sat with his arms around a person wearing a white shoulderless top, whom Ratner identified as his fiancée. Epstein wore a black top and blue jeans and sat next to another person who had one hand on his chest.
(Department of Justice/EFTA00245476/EFTA00245477)
DSC01416 and DSC01418 also appeared in a third file, "EFTA00251150" (archived). They were part of a series of photos (DSC1398 to DSC01434) that appeared to be from the same event.
That series included EFTA00003400 (archived) — a photo released in December 2025 that, according to news reports, showed Ratner and Jean Luc Brunel, a modeling agent who died by suicide in a French prison cell in 2022 while being held by authorities during an investigation into suspected rape and sex trafficking of minors.
Ratner's interviews
Ratner spoke to the British broadcaster Piers Morgan about the larger photo from news reports that he said showed himself, his fiancée and Epstein. Speaking on Morgan's "Uncensored" program, Ratner said:
That is a photograph of my fiancée who invited me to this event and that's where the picture was taken. I would never been in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and I was never in contact with him after. So that's a picture of my me and my fiancée at some event.
He did not provide the alleged fiancée's name or how she knew Epstein, nor the exact location or date the photos were taken, other than to say it was 19 to 21 years ago.
Ratner gave a similar account to Fox News. He told the outlet he "wasn't concerned" when he learned the photo was circulating online. Ratner said, "That was my girlfriend for five years. So there was nothing else to say about it really."
'Brett says hi and he loves you!'
Ratner's name also appears in correspondence released by the DOJ that includes Epstein. On Dec. 16, 2010, Epstein appeared to be attempting to contact Ratner. Lesley Groff, Epstein's assistant, wrote to Epstein on Dec. 16 that "the Brett Ratner numbers you gave me are the same ones we have...the do not work."
Around a year later, on Oct. 21, 2011, a person whose name was redacted wrote to a person named in the file as Brett Ratner, "Hello Brett...Jeffrey would like to speak with you regarding [REDACTED] ..could you please give him a call at [REDACTED]."
It was unclear whether Epstein managed to reach Ratner in his attempts in 2010 and 2011.
Then, on May 17, 2012, Epstein received an email from the Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal that read, "Sitting next to Brett Ratner...he produced Woody's 3 hour documentary that just was shown at Cannes. We are about to see Roman Polanski documentary. Brett says hi and he loves you!"
Ratner was an executive producer on a documentary about Woody Allen released in November 2011. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2012.
Ratner had not independently verified that he said he "loved" Epstein in 2012 at the time of this writing, and it was unclear whether the two had been in touch.
Epstein mentioned Ratner again in correspondence five years later. In an email to the lawyer Reid Weingarten, who would later defend Epstein against the 2019 sex-trafficking charges, Epstein wrote on Nov. 1, 2017, "brett ratner now . oy."
That same day, the Los Angeles Times published its investigation in which six women accused Ratner of sexual harassment or misconduct. Ratner denied the allegations and has never been charged.
According to the Los Angeles Times, "Melania" is the first major film Ratner has directed since the accusations in 2017. The movie reportedly had the biggest opening weekend for a "non-concert, non-fiction movie" in the U.S. in a decade, grossing $7 million despite a 5% critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.