“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” the Microsoft founder told his employees in response to the Department of Justice’s release of the Epstein files, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing an audio recording of the latest biannual Gates Foundation town hall.
“To be clear, I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Gates said while apologising to foundation executives for introducing them into Epstein’s orbit.
“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein. I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” he said.
To give her credit, she was always kind of sceptical about the Epstein thing
The tech entrepreneur turned philanthropist explained that he first met the paedophile in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida, but that he had not looked into the financier’s background and was only dimly aware of an “18-month thing” that limited his travel.
He acknowledged that his then wife, Melinda Gates, had expressed concern about Epstein in 2013, but that he had ignored her caution and continued to see him socially.
“Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behaviour,” Gates said, according to the WSJ.
Melinda Gates expressed concern about Epstein in 2013, the Microsoft founder said. Photo: AP
Alluding to his ex-wife, he added: “To give her credit, she was always kind of sceptical about the Epstein thing.”
Gates continued to map out the course of their relationship, saying he had met with Epstein in 2014, taken trips on his private jet and spent time with him in Germany, France, New York and Washington, but “never stayed overnight” at his properties or visited Little St James, his now-notorious private Caribbean island. He said he did not see Epstein again thereafter, although there were “ancillary issues” that Epstein continued to email him about, but Gates said he chose not to respond to them.
Today’s News in 90 seconds – Thursday February 26
Gates also said the women pictured with him in the files were Epstein’s assistants, whom the billionaire had asked to pose with him.
During the town hall, the billionaire also admitted to two affairs.
“I did have affairs, 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 said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.independent.ie ’
