Bill Gates 'took responsibility' over Epstein ties in staff meeting, foundation says

bill gates addressed questions from staff at a foundation town hall, apologising for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, admitting two affairs and saying he took responsibility for his actions. The foundation said he "spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail. "

Town hall and apology

At a scheduled town hall with employees that the foundation holds twice a year, Bill Gates apologised to staff for his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and said it was a "huge mistake to spend time with Epstein" and to bring foundation executives to meetings with Epstein. He told staff, "I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made. " The foundation said the conversation covered questions submitted by staff on the release of the Epstein files, the foundation's work in AI, and the future of global health, and that Bill "took responsibility for his actions. "

Admissions: two affairs

Gates said he had two affairs with Russian women, describing one partner as a "Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events" and another as a "Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities. " He said Epstein later found out about those affairs. A 2023 report said Epstein had tried to extort Gates over the alleged affair with the bridge player, Mila Antonova, after Epstein failed to convince Gates to join a multibillion charity fund Epstein tried to establish. "The tone of the message was that Epstein knew about the affair and could expose it, " the 2023 report said.

Denials and quotations

Gates rejected any participation in Epstein's crimes, saying, "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit. " He also said, "To be clear, I never spent any time with victims, the women around him. " He told staff he had "never stayed overnight" at Epstein's residences and said he did not visit Epstein's island.

Timeline and files released

Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011 and continued to meet him through 2014, including time spent with him abroad. He said he was aware of an "18-month thing" that had limited Epstein's travel following Epstein's earlier guilty plea to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, but that he did not properly check Epstein's background. Gates has come under renewed scrutiny after the US Department of Justice released Epstein-related files in January. Those files contained images of Gates with women whose faces were redacted and emails; files also included material in which Epstein wrote to himself claiming Gates had contracted a sexually transmitted infection and requested antibiotics to surreptitiously give to his then-wife, Melinda. Gates denied that allegation.

Photographs and committee release

Gates said some images of him with women included in the so-called Epstein files were pictures that Epstein asked him to take with his assistants after their meetings. An image was released from the Epstein files by the US House Oversight Committee in December last year.

Reactions and personal context

Gates said the relationship with Epstein persisted even after his then-wife expressed doubts, adding, "To give her credit, she was always kind of sceptical about the Epstein thing. " Gates established the philanthropic organisation alongside his then wife, Melinda French Gates; they divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. In an interview on an NPR podcast earlier this month, Melinda said the latest release of files dredged up "painful times in my marriage. "

Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, is 70 and has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein's victims. He said Epstein had talked about having "intimate relationship[s] with a lot of billionaires, particularly Wall Street billionaires, " and had suggested he could help raise money for charitable causes. Gates acknowledged that the presence of other prestigious figures at Epstein meetings "made it easier for me to feel like this was a normalized situation. "

In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly and answered staff questions in detail, the foundation said, and staff were told the conversation covered the release of the Epstein files, the foundation's work in AI, and the future of global health.

Closing: The foundation reiterated that this was a scheduled town hall and that Bill spoke candidly and accepted responsibility for his actions.