Bill Gates: Epstein used affairs as leverage against me

Bill Gates has claimed that Jeffrey Epstein used his knowledge of the Microsoft founder’s extramarital affairs as “leverage” against him.

The tech billionaire told US Congress members on Wednesday that Epstein “was working to use information about my infidelities … to pressure me”.

Senior US politicians suggested it was evidence that Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, blackmailed powerful figures in his orbit to his advantage.

Gates also reportedly admitted to seeking donations from Epstein for his global health organisation despite knowledge of the paedophile’s sex crimes.

It follows awkward revelations about Gates’ close relationship with the registered sex offender disclosed in the Epstein files, which the US Department of Justice began publishing in December.

They showed that Epstein had claimed in a memo to himself in 2013 that Gates caught a sexually transmitted disease after sleeping with “Russian girls”, and that the Microsoft founder had asked for antibiotics to “surreptitiously give” to his then-wife.

Gates has repeatedly denied the claims but admitted in a closed-door interview in Congress on Wednesday that Epstein used his knowledge of the tech billionaire’s affairs to coerce him.

In a pre-prepared statement delivered to the House oversight committee, which has launched an investigation into the Epstein files, Gates said: “I learnt Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage.

“These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family.”

He added: “Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities – in addition to many lies that he layered on top – to pressure me to re-engage with him.

“He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”

Gates’s 27-year marriage with Melinda Gates ended in 2021, with his former wife saying that the divorce was partially fuelled by revelations about his friendship with Epstein.

The Microsoft billionaire admitted in February to having had two affairs with Russian women, who he claimed were not victims of Epstein.

A full transcript of Gates’ testimony is expected to be published later in June, with the former richest man in the world insisting to reporters on Wednesday that he was there “voluntarily” to help “find justice for the victims”.

Senior US politicians later shed light on what Gates had told them behind closed doors, including reportedly admitting to forging a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction on a child sex offence.

Robert Garcia, the Democrat congressman for California leading the Epstein investigation, told reporters: “Gates was aware that Jeffrey Epstein had been convicted, and for a horrific crime, and continued to interact with them to seek money for his foundation, and, I think we would agree, was a horrific judgment call.”

Democratic congresswoman Melanie Stansbury added: “He admitted that he knew of Epstein’s reputation. He admitted that he knew that he had been convicted of sexual crimes. But ultimately, in his words, he viewed this narrow relationship as being an acceptable means to access wealthy donors.”

Blackmail tactic

That trade-off made Gates vulnerable to Epstein’s propensity for blackmail, Garcia claimed.

He said blackmail was a “tactic that we have found that he [Epstein] uses over and over again”, including “with women, with people he employed, he used it with other powerful men”.

Gates also “named a number of individuals” that the committee will now seek to question in relation to Epstein’s crimes, according to other politicians present in the private interview.

They said it included Larry Summers, the former US Treasury secretary, who resigned as president of Harvard University earlier this year over details of his friendship with Epstein.

Summers has previously said he was “deeply ashamed” of his relationship with Epstein but denied any wrongdoing. He has not been accused of any crimes.

Gates also provided “a few names of folks involved within the Gates Foundation – or the Gates orbit – that we’re interested in speaking with”, claimed Stephen Lynch, a Democratic congressman for Massachusetts, referring to Gates’ global healthcare charity.

The Telegraph, London

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