Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has admitted to employees that he had two affairs and has apologised for his time spent with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
At a town hall for the Gates Foundation on Tuesday, Gates addressed his presence in the Epstein files, claiming he never spent “any time with the victims” of alleged sex trafficking.
The tech billionaire also admitted to having had affairs with two Russian women, while he was married to his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, who he says “was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing”.
French Gates has previously spoken publicly about meeting Epstein, saying that she could tell immediately “he was abhorrent” and “evil personified”. Just a few weeks ago, she spoke on NPR’s Wild Card podcast about the US Department of Justice’s release of the Epstein files, saying she felt “unbelievable sadness” seeing her ex-husband’s name in the latest release and that society needs a proper reckoning for women’s safety.
Gates has said his relationship with Epstein lasted from 2011 to 2014, meaning the connection occurred after Epstein was already convicted of soliciting a minor.
Within the Epstein files, there’s a number of communications where Epstein makes scandalous allegations against Gates, including that he used drugs and contracted a sexually transmitted disease during an “illicit tryst” before giving antibiotics to his then wife, French Gates.
The Gates Foundation has denied the allegations, calling them “absolutely absurd and completely false”. Gates has admitted to meeting Epstein on several occasions but told employees that he “never stayed overnight”, never visited Epstein’s island and never did or saw anything “illicit”.
No documents allege Gates participated in or had knowledge of Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking.
In regards to Gates’ affairs with the two Russian women, he has said Epstein later discovered the relationships, which is in line with reports Epstein used the information to threaten Gates in the mid-2010s.
“To be clear, I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Gates told his employees on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein. I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made.”
“Knowing what I know 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.”
“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the foundation and the goals of the foundation,” he told staffers. “And our work is very reputational sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”