The official response from Epic Games
If you have followed the news related to the declassification of certain emails from Jeffrey Epstein, there is no need to remind you to what extent this affair touches on extremely sensitive subjects. More unexpectedly, these documents also include mentions related to video games. In particular, we learned that the man had made a purchase of V-Bucks, although there was no information indicating for whom or for what account.
The nickname “littlestjeff1” would have circulated in certain documents or hacked databases (forums, old online services, etc.), where Internet users assumed that it belonged to Epstein. This association was taken up by online communities who sought to link different accounts or email addresses to the businessman.
So, when this nickname was spotted as being associated with an Epic Games account (although there is no official information to confirm that it really belonged to him), this coincidence was interpreted by some as “proof” suggesting that Jeffrey Epstein would still be alive. The rumor spread quickly thanks to screenshots from account tracking sites Fortnite Or Rocket League (often called trackers), which displayed the nickname in question as recently active.
Faced with the extent of these speculations, Epic Games quickly spoke out via an official message published by the Fortnite team. The studio clearly explains that this is voluntary manipulation on the part of a player.
Hey Official Fortnite here – this was a ruse by a Fortnite player. A few days ago, an existing Fortnite account owner changed their username from something totally unrelated to littlestjeff1, following the revelation of littlestjeff1 as a name on YouTube. These Fortnite trackers…
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) February 6, 2026
According to Epic Games, the owner of the account had already existed for a long time, but recently changed his pseudonym to this specific name following the public distribution of this nickname on YouTube and social networks. The trackers used by some Internet users only display the current name of the account, and not the history of changes, confusion quickly set in.
Epic Games also clarifies that after verification, none of the email addresses mentioned in public documents related to this matter exist in the Epic account system. Since the publication of these documents, many people have on the contrary created new accounts Fortnite with deliberately similar usernames or email addresses, contributing to confusion. The studio therefore states unambiguously that no element links this Fortnite account to the person cited, and that there is no corresponding trace in their databases.
Even if we may be surprised by an official reaction to such a crude rumor, we imagine that the firm would have done well without publicity of this type.