In a candid town hall with staff at the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates admitted he made a “huge mistake” by associating with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, while denying any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
A recording of Tuesday’s internal meeting, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, shows Gates expressing regret that his past relationship with Epstein had cast a shadow over the foundation’s work. The Microsoft co-founder told employees he took responsibility for his actions and apologised to those affected.
Gates is among several high-profile figures whose names appear in documents released recently by the United States Department of Justice as part of its probe into Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.
‘I saw nothing illicit’
At the town hall, 70-year-old Gates acknowledged having had two affairs but firmly denied any link to Epstein’s criminal conduct. “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” he told the the foundation.
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“I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities,” Bill Gates said.
He told staff that his association with Epstein began in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. He said he was aware of an “18-month thing” that restricted Epstein’s travel but did not investigate further into his background at the time.
Ex-wife Melinda raised concerns
Gates said his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, had expressed concerns about Epstein as early as 2013. Despite those warnings, he continued interacting with Epstein for at least another year.
“Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behavior,” the WSJ quoted Gates as saying.
He further described spending time with Epstein and bringing foundation executives into meetings as a “huge mistake.”
“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” he said.
According to news agency AFP, the discussion took place during the Gates Foundation’s twice-yearly town hall.
“Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,” the foundation said in a statement to the agency.
Epstein files mention Bill Gates
Photos and references to Gates in the Epstein files have drawn renewed attention following the Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of documents.
Last week, Gates withdrew from delivering the keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, saying the move was made “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities.”
Gates has not formally been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has denied any knowledge of the financier’s crimes. However, the files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein discussing philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting meetings, and photographs of the two men at events.
A draft email contained in the release quotes Epstein alleging that his relationship with Gates ranged from “helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women.”