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Bill Gates apologized to Gates Foundation staff about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, admitting that he had made mistakes that cast a cloud over the philanthropic group, while insisting that he had not participated in Epstein’s crimes.
On Tuesday, the Microsoft co-founder acknowledged in a town hall that he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they did not involve Epstein’s victims. “I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t see anything illegal,” Gates said, according to a recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Gates said images in the newly released Epstein files showing him with women whose faces have been redacted were photos that Epstein asked him to take after their meetings with Epstein’s assistants. “To be clear, I never spent time with the victims, the women around him,” Gates said.
‘It was a big mistake to do that spending time with Epsteinand involving Gates Foundation executives in meetings with the sex offender, Gates said. “I apologize to other people involved in this for the mistake I made.”
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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates attends a dinner hosted by President Donald Trump with technology leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, September 4, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The billionaire said he met Epstein starting in 2011, years after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor into prostitution. Gates said he was aware of something for “18 months” that had restricted Epstein’s travels, but said he had not properly checked his background. Gates said he continued to meet Epstein even after his then-wife Melinda French Gates expressed his concerns in 2013.
“Knowing what I know now makes it a hundred times worse, not only in terms of his past crimes, but now it’s clear that there was ongoing bad behavior,” Gates told the staff. Speaking about his ex-wife, he added: “To give her credit, she was always a little skeptical about the Epstein thing.”
Gates told staff Tuesday that he continued to meet with Epstein through 2014, flying with Epstein on a private jet and spending time with him in Germany, France, New York and Washington. “I have never stayed overnight,” he said, or visited Epstein’s island.
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He said Epstein “talked about the kind of intimate relationship he had with a lot of billionaires, especially Wall Street billionaires,” and that he could help raise money for causes like global health care.
Gates said that because Epstein had other prestigious people at these meetings, “it made it easier for me to feel like this was a normalized situation.” He said he realizes his association with Epstein also helped the sex offender burnish his reputation.
Gates admitted his ties to Epstein and newly disclosed emails from the Justice Department files had cast a cloud over the Gates Foundation and its reputation.
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“It’s absolutely the opposite of the Foundation’s values and the Foundation’s goals,” he said. “And our work is very reputation-sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not.”
The Justice Department released a trove of Epstein documents on December 19, following President Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said Gates holds town halls twice a year and that he “spoke candidly, addressed several questions in detail and took responsibility for his actions.”
Among the recently made public emails were two messages Epstein sent to himself in July 2013 that appear to be drafts in the form of a resignation letter from Gates’ then-science adviser, Boris Nikolic. The second email referenced a Gates message:marital dispute‘ and said the author had facilitated ‘illegal rendezvous’.
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At the town hall, Gates talked about his personal life. “I have had an affair, 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,” he told the staff.
Gates said Nikolic, who was close to both Gates and Epstein, knew about these matters and told Epstein about them. The physicist worked at one of Gates’ companies, although it is unclear whether he had the affair while she was employed by him.
The Journal reported this earlier this month Epstein intervened in negotiations over Nikolic’s departure from Gates’ private office, unleashing allegations that Gates had been involved. extramarital affairs when he put together the exit deal. In a statement, Nikolic previously told the Journal that the July 2013 emails “were not written on my behalf or at my request.”
Gates had an affair with a Russian bridge player and Epstein later appeared to use his knowledge to threaten Gates, the Journal reported in 2023. Gates met the woman around 2010, when she was in her 20s. Epstein met her in 2013 and later paid for her to attend software coding school. In 2017, Epstein emailed Gates asking for reimbursement for the course.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates speaks at the Gates Foundation’s first global Goalkeepers event in the Nordics, held in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 22, 2026. (Stefan JERREVANG/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
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In a July 4, 2013 email to Nikolic, Epstein wrote: “Bill risks going from richest man to biggest hypocrite, Melinda is a joke, promises will disappear as a result.” Epstein continued, naming two women with whom Gates had affairs, saying they “run the risk of becoming overnight sensations.”
Gates said at the town hall that 2014 was the last year he met Epstein, although there were some “additional issues” that Epstein raised. “After that he kept emailing me,” Gates said, adding that he did not respond.
