Fact Check

George Soros Indicted for Election Hacking?

A doctored image was used to spread the false claim that George Soros was indicted for election tampering.

Published May 22, 2017

 (Wikimedia Commons)
Image Via Wikimedia Commons
Claim:
Image depicts George Soros in handcuffs before a judge, facing charges of tampering with voting equipment.

On 26 April 2017 web site The People's Resistance published a claim that Hungarian financier George Soros was indicted for tampering with voting machines, alongside an image of Soros purportedly before a judge:

BREAKING NEWS: George Soros Indicted For Voter Machine Fraud And More

After the state of Ohio found that voting machines in more than a dozen counties had been tampered with, they tied them directly to the George Soros Corporation. It took the Federal Election Commission less than an hour to get an indictment through the US Attorney after that. In under three hours total, George Soros was photographed sitting in a courtroom waiting to be arraigned.

The claim appeared to be based on a 2016 election-related rumor Soros owned stakes in particular brand of voting equipment (Smartmatic). There was no truth to that claim. On 8 May 2017, fake news aggregator Daily USA Update repeated the indictment story:

After the state of Ohio found that voting machines in more than a dozen counties had been tampered with, they tied them directly to the George Soros Corporation. It took the Federal Election Commission less than an hour to get an indictment through the US Attorney after that. In under three hours total, George Soros was photographed sitting in a courtroom waiting to be arraigned.

However, the claim was based on a doctored photograph. The original photograph came from a 27 June 2016 news story about a hacker who was convicted of stealing $50,000 from Soros' charitable foundation. The photograph was taken at his sentencing:

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.