Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has said he regrets “every minute” he spent with Jeffrey Epstein, even as his former wife, Melinda French Gates, said questions still linger over his association with the disgraced financier.
The remarks followed the release of a fresh tranche of documents last week by the United States Department of Justice, which included emails involving Epstein and several high-profile figures.
Some of the documents revealed warm relationships, questionable financial dealings and private correspondence linked to Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Among the newly released records was a draft email attributed to Epstein in which he alleged that Gates engaged in extramarital affairs.
Epstein wrote that his relationship with Gates ranged from “helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts with married women.”
Responding to the claim, Gates flatly denied the allegations.
“That email was never sent. The email is false,” Gates said in an interview with 9News Australia aired on Wednesday.
“I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way?” he added.
Gates further stated: “Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize.”
A spokesperson for Gates issued a similar denial following the release of the millions of Epstein-related documents.
“The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” the spokesperson said.
Melinda Gates: ‘Painful Memories’
Speaking to National Public Radio (NPR), Melinda French Gates said the document release reopened painful chapters from her marriage.
“For me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up,” she said.
“It brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.”
She added that unresolved questions surrounding Epstein’s associations must be addressed by those directly involved.
“Whatever questions remain there — I can’t even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”
Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021.
‘A Dead End’ Relationship – Gates
Gates acknowledged meeting Epstein in 2011 and attending several dinners with him over a three-year period but insisted the relationship was limited and misguided.
“The focus was always that he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health,” Gates said.
“In retrospect, that was a dead end.”
He stressed that he never visited Epstein’s Caribbean island and denied having sexual relationships arranged by the financier.
While the appearance of a name in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing, the documents have reignited scrutiny of Epstein’s ties to influential figures who had previously minimised or denied their relationships with him.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex from a minor and was later charged in 2019 with federal sex trafficking offences before his death in custody.