Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has said he regretted ‘every minute’ he spent with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.
In an interview with Nine News Australia on Monday, Mr Gates described himself as “foolish” for spending time with the deceased financier.
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Mr Gates was one of several prominent persons whose names were mentioned in the recently released files in connection with Mr Epstein.
The New York Times reported that, in one of the emails Mr Epstein wrote to himself, the late sex offender suggested that Mr Gates was having an extramarital affair and seeking illicit drugs.
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The email dated 18 July 2013, stated that Mr Epstein decided to resign from his roles with the Gates Foundation and BG3 because he had been “caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill.” Melinda French Gates is Mr Gates’ ex-wife.
“I have the greatest respect for my friend of 7 years, and wish them both well.
“In my role as his right hand, I had been asked on multiple occasions and in hindsight, wrongly acquiesced to participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound, and had been repeatedly asked to do other things that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal,” he wrote.
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Mr Epstein said he helped “Bill to get drugs, to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitate his illicit trysts with married women, to being asked to provide adderall.”
Gates’ response
Mr Gates, however, denied these claims, explaining that his interactions with Mr Epstein were primarily business-related.
He stated that he met with Mr Epstein in 2011 and had a “number of dinners with him” simply to discuss business opportunities.
“The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health.”
“In retrospect, that was a dead end. I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him,” he said.
Mr Gates also denied visiting the private island, where Epstein was accused of trafficking and assaulting women.
“The more that comes out, the more clear it will be that, although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behaviour,” he said.
In an interview with NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast on Tuesday, Melinda Gates disclosed that she felt “unbelievable sadness” seeing her ex-husband’s name mentioned in the files.
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“Whatever questions remain there … for those people, and for even my ex-husband, they need to answer to those things, not me.
“And I am so happy to be away from all the muck that was there,” she said.
Mr Epstein was arrested in 2019 and was awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges, to which he pleaded not guilty, before his death.
He was found dead in his prison cell after committing suicide.
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