In March 2026, social media users shared and discussed two videos allegedly showing the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alive and driving in Florida. The clips displayed drivers' perspectives, looking out toward a motorist — allegedly Epstein — wearing sunglasses and a backward white baseball cap while driving a convertible with the top down.
For example, on March 13, an X user reposted (archived) the brief video with the caption, "The internet is freaking out after this video was recorded in South Florida! WHO DOES THAT LOOK LIKE TO YOU???" The post received more than 15 million views. The clip (archived) originated from TikTok user Andrew Posey's account on March 12 with the onscreen caption, "Epstein out here in South Florida." Other users shared the clip on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and TikTok (archived).
On the same day, another TikTok user posted a different video (archived) of the same driver, with the user repeatedly saying, "That's Jeffrey." The onscreen caption read, "when you on the road and the saxophones start getting louder." Some users' remarks reflected they genuinely believed the videos truly showed Epstein alive and driving the car.
In short, the videos showed an Epstein lookalike. After Snopes initially published this article without a fact-check rating, a man calling himself "Palm Beach Pete" (referenced henceforth as Peter) announced himself on social media as the man driving the car.
Snopes contacted Peter to ask for more information, including if had yet revealed his full name, and will update this article if we receive further information.
'Palm Beach Pete' reveals himself
On March 19, Peter posted a video (archived) on the newly-created X account @not_jeffepstein. Peter, wearing a white hat backward and appearing to drive the same car with the top down, says, "Hey everybody, this is 'Palm Beach Pete,' and my video went viral because some dude randomly filmed me when I was driving on I-95, unbeknownst to me. And the next thing I know, I'm a viral sensation." He continued, "I'm not Jeffrey Epstein. I'm 'Palm Beach Pete!'" He then ended the video with, "Peace out." (Peter also created similar accounts on Instagram (@not.epstein) and TikTok (@not_jeffepstein).)
In a second video (archived) on March 20, Peter addressed the virality of the video and clarified yet again, "I'm so not Jeffrey Epstein. I'm just me being me. And it's a crazy phenomenon that has went very viral, and I really appreciate all the support." Addressing Epstein's past, he added, "He's a very bad person, what he did, obviously. And he is dead, and I'm alive."
For any readers doubting the legitimacy of Peter revealing himself as the man driving the car, a comparison of Peter to an authentic Epstein photo features some facial differences. Peter has a more pronounced bottom lip, while Epstein's pictures commonly showed a larger top lip. The ear shapes also had differences, including in the angle of the part of the ear known as the intertragal notch (2), as well as the shape of the concha and antihelix (3).
(@amposey/TikTok and U.S. Justice Department (Snopes Illustration))
A medical examiner ruled in an autopsy report that Epstein died on Aug. 10, 2019, hanging himself in his New York jail cell. Even so, users have shared numerous rumors related to his federal case files claiming he is still alive.
For further reading, we recently reported about a video allegedly showing Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate imprisoned for her role in his sex crimes, freely walking around in Quebec, Canada. The user who originated that clip admitted to have used AI face swap technology to replace someone else's face with Maxwell's.