Bill Gates in 2024; Jeffrey Epstein in 2005.Photo:Roy Rochlin/Getty; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Roy Rochlin/Getty; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Bill Gatesis opening up about the time he spent withJeffrey Epstein, calling their conversations together “a huge mistake.”
In an interview withThe Wall Street Journal,published on Jan. 24, the former Microsoft CEO, 69, spoke about the meetings he had with the late convicted sex offender.
“Definitely,” he said with a laugh. “I mean, are you kidding?”
Bill Gates in 2022.Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/Getty
The Wall Street Journalpreviously reported in 2023 that Epstein threatened to expose Gates for having an alleged affair with a Russian bridge player in 2017 while he was married to now-ex-wifeMelinda French Gates.
The outlet reported at the time that Epstein had failed to get him to join in a charitable fund that never came to fruition. Epstein emailed him in 2017 asking to be reimbursed for money he spent to send the bridge player, Mila Antonova, to software coding school. The message also seemingly hinted at the idea that Epstein could expose the alleged relationship if an association between the two men was not maintained, per the newspaper, which reported that no payment was made.
A spokesperson for Bill told PEOPLE in a statement at he time that “Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates.”
“Mr. Gates never had any financial dealings with Epstein,” the spokesperson added. “As Bill has said before, it was a mistake to have ever met him.”
Jeffrey Epstein in 2004.Rick Friedman/Getty Images
The pair’s meetings also allegedly caused a rift between Bill and Melinda,a source told PEOPLE in 2021. His meetings with the late convicted sex offender had irked Melinda, 60, for years, the insider said: “Epstein is definitely a sore spot. That’s a long time for issues to fester.”
The New York Timesreported in 2019 that Bill first met Epstein after the latter had already served jail time for soliciting prostitution for a minor and was registered as a sex offender.
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Although Bill toldWSJat the time that he did not have “any business relationship or friendship” with Epstein, theTimesreported that beginning in 2011, the two men met multiple times to discuss Epstein’s proposal to help raise funds for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The fundraising efforts never came to fruition.
Appearing onCNN’sAnderson Cooper 360in 2021, he addressed his past ties to Epstein, saying, “It was ahuge mistaketo spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there. There were lots of others in that situation, but I made a mistake.”
“I had several dinners with him hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge,” he said at the time. “When it looked like that wasn’t a real thing, that relationship ended.”
source: people.com
