BOSTON — Social media amateur sleuths claiming there’s a link in the Department of Justice’s Jeffrey Epstein files to the shocking 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist are wrong — and it’s hurting the case, the museum tells the Boston Herald.

It’s another frustrating dead end for the Gardner team, who still field more than 50 tips per month, mostly theories like this one on who stole the masterpieces 36 years ago next month.

“The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum still mourns the loss of the 13 works of art that were stolen from its galleries in 1990. Among the works stolen were Flinck’s oil painting Landscape with Obelisk and the Rembrandt etching Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which have been misidentified in viral social media video on the recently released Epstein files,” the Museum said Wednesday.

A spokeswoman added the museum “cannot disclose any details related to the status of the investigation,” but since all tips are run down any “misinformation can hinder our active investigation and further delay the safe return of these works.”

Anthony Amore, director of security and chief investigator at the Gardner Museum in Boston, said it’s “unlikely” anyone would use the stolen art as a tax write-off, as alleged in the social media clip, and it “wouldn’t even make sense for money laundering — it would only make the money dirtier.”

Amore said this scuttlebutt just for clicks takes away “from getting the real work done.”

The Museum, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s office are still seeking “viable leads that could result in safe return of the art. Anyone with information about the stolen artworks should contact the Gardner Museum directly at reward@gardnermuseum.org,” the Gardner Museum added.

On March 18, 1990, two men posing as police officers stole 13 artworks valued at over $500 million from the museum in what is considered the largest unsolved art heist in modern history.

Included in that theft were Vermeer’s “The Concert,” Rembrandt’s “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” and “A Lady and Gentleman in Black,” five Degas sketches, and Manet’s “Chez Tortoni.” Empty frames fill the void today where the paintings were once displayed.

Ironically, Rembrandt’s self-portrait is directly across from where his “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” gem was once proudly shown.

The DOJ’s Epstein library includes an email from Epstein about using paintings for collateral.

“which paintings would you use as collateral if you could borrow against them confidentialy,” Epstein wrote to a redacted name.

The emailer responded, “Probably the most obvious one to keep it simple : Goya, rembrandt, greco,velasquez… Ariane de Rothschild.”

The Epstein files also include a lengthy “collateral list” with many pieces of artwork.

The Rembrandt pieces on the Epstein collateral list include: “Christ Crucified Between Two Thieves (The Three Crosses)”; a group of six prints including the “Six Portrait”; “Landscape with Three Gabled Cottages Beside a Road”; “A Vagrant Couple with a Dog”; and “The Three Trees.”

As of 2014, the Sotheby’s valuation for “Christ Crucified Between Two Thieves” was $1.4 million, and the group of six prints was valued at $8.5 million.

The Gardner Museum is offering a $10 million reward for information leading directly to the recovery in good condition of all 13 works of art stolen on March 18, 1990. The Museum, working closely with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, continues to seek facts that could result in the safe return of the art.

A share of the reward is promised in exchange for information leading to the restitution of any individual work or group of works. An additional reward of $100,000 is being offered for information leading to the return of the Napoleonic eagle finial.

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