Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on Wednesday that he “never victimized anyone” while responding to questions from US lawmakers regarding his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to AP, he called his meeting with Epstein “a grave error in judgement”, noting, “if the time I spent with Epstein lent him any credibility, I am deeply sorry”.
In prepared testimony submitted to a closed-door hearing and later published on his personal website, Gates stated, “I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone.”
Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals and a prominent philanthropist, appeared before the House Oversight Committee for a recorded interview focused on his connections to Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls.
The House committee invited Gates to testify after documents released by the Justice Department prompted renewed scrutiny of his interactions with Epstein. A number of other prominent figures have also appeared before the panel, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Among the documents reviewed was a draft email from 2013 in which Epstein appeared to imply that he had assisted Gates in dealing with issues related to extramarital relationships, including obtaining antibiotics following a sexually transmitted infection.
Gates has dismissed the email as fabricated and denied the claims.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Gates informed staff at his foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women, but he denied ever spending time with Epstein’s victims.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011, three years after the financier pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
He also said Epstein had presented himself as someone capable of raising billions of dollars for global health initiatives through wealthy individuals for whom he handled tax and estate planning services.
(This is a developing story. More to come)
