Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates told a House panel investigating the late financier Jeffrey Epstein that his meetings with the sex offender were “a grave error in judgment.”
The appearance of Gates, one of the world’s richest men and the face of the technological revolution for a generation of Americans, was a striking testament to the broad and influential network of connections Epstein cultivated. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The release of Justice Department files on Epstein forced by an act of Congress has spurred close public scrutiny of Epstein’s past associations with powerful figures, including Britain’s ex-Prince Andrew, former Harvard University President Larry Summers, President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black. Those men and Gates have denied any wrongdoing.
“I see now that he sought to build an image of legitimacy around himself, using connections to reputable and powerful people to deflect scrutiny and attempt to rehabilitate his reputation,” Gates said in a written opening statement of his testimony released to reporters. “If the time I spent with Epstein lent him any credibility, I am deeply sorry.”
Gates also told the panel that after he ended contact with Epstein the financier used “sensitive information about my personal life” — including knowledge of extramarital affairs — to “pressure me to re-engage with him.” Gates said those “infidelities” had “nothing to do with Epstein.”
But Gates said he never had “any indication” Epstein was involved in “ongoing criminal conduct.”
“Mr. Gates was aware that Jeffrey Epstein had been convicted, and for a horrific crime. He continued to interact with him,” the House panel’s top Democrat, Robert Garcia of California, said during a break in the questioning. “That’s something that Mr. Gates has to atone for.”
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said before the proceedings began that the panel planned to ask the tech mogul about notes Epstein emailed to himself in 2013 in which the financier describes giving Gates drugs “to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls” and providing antibiotics for a sexually transmitted disease Gates could “surreptitiously give to ” Melinda French Gates, who was then his wife.
“That email will be addressed in the first hour of questioning,” said Comer, a Kentucky Republican. “No one’s accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing,” he added.
Read more: Jeffrey Epstein’s Web of Influence
Representative James Walkinshaw, a Virginia Democrat on the panel, said he planned to ask Gates about an April 2018 email Epstein sent to Gates’ chief of staff Larry Cohen in which Epstein sought reimbursement for payments the financier claimed to have made to a Russian bridge player who Epstein indicated had a relationship with Gates.
“We want to understand whether the public statements Mr. Gates has made about his relationship with Epstein are fully truthful and accurate,” Walkinshaw said.
Gates told the panel that he thought Epstein “would write emails that were oftentimes untrue,” Garcia told reporters during a lunchtime break. “He denies, obviously, some of those claims,” Garcia added, without elaborating on which ones Gates had addressed.
Gates met with Epstein several times starting in roughly 2011, years after the financier pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution, and once stayed late at Epstein’s New York townhouse, the New York Times reported. Gates has said they discussed a philanthropy project but that their meetings stopped after the likelihood of getting funding diminished.
In a February meeting with the Gates Foundation staff, the founder said he never interacted with any of Epstein’s victims and never stayed with him overnight, according to the Wall Street Journal. He admitted to two affairs but said neither woman was among the financier’s victims, and he said he had never done or seen anything “illicit” in connection with Epstein.
Authorities looking into Epstein haven’t charged Gates with any crimes.
French Gates, Gates’ former wife of 27 years, cited his proximity to Epstein as one factor that contributed to the loss of confidence behind their 2021 divorce.
Read More: Gates Foundation Reviews Epstein Ties as Founder Faces Scrutiny
It has also complicated his philanthropic endeavors, especially with the Gates Foundation that he and French Gates founded. She formally left the organization in 2024, three years after their divorce. The foundation, which was always planned to sunset after the deaths of the founders, will now phase out on a faster timeline, seeking to spend down roughly $200 billion by 2045 .
Bill Gates’ ties to Epstein have strained the organization’s work, which focuses on global health and lifting people out of poverty. The foundation earlier this year commissioned an external review of any association with Epstein.
Other names close to Gates were also included in the massive trove of documents released since late last year by the Justice Department.
Read More: Gates Adviser Served as Conduit to Epstein, Discussed Nude Pics
Emails between Epstein and Boris Nikolic, a key science adviser who worked at Gates’ venture firm, showed how Epstein tried to draw Gates closer into his circle and convince him to visit his Caribbean island. Gates has said he never visited the island and he regrets ever meeting Epstein.
The correspondence with Nikolic was concentrated from 2011 to 2014. While the emails are at times sexually explicit, records show no evidence that Gates or Nikolic knew of Epstein’s crimes and law enforcement authorities who investigated Epstein’s operation haven’t accused either of any wrongdoing.
A transcript of Gates’ testimony to the House panel will be released in the coming days, according to a committee spokesperson.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating Epstein’s networks, as well as potential lapses in federal law enforcement’s response.
Comer said the panel would seek testimony from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney who has spearheaded the Justice Department’s handling of Epstein-related matters, and Alan Dershowitz, a prominent criminal defense attorney who appeared in the Justice Department’s files.
The panel has also sought testimony from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Leon Black, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. General Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and tech entrepreneur Ted Waitt.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges, including procurement of a minor for prostitution in a deal negotiated with then-US Attorney Alexander Acosta to avoid more serious federal sex trafficking charges at the time.
After he died in 2019, authorities ruled the death a suicide.