Bill Gates is headed to Congress to be questioned about his relationship with Epstein
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Bill Gates is expected to face uncomfortable questions on Wednesday that have little to do with Microsoft or his global healthcare, as members of a US congressional committee will instead investigate his relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein Transparency Act, which was passed in late 2025, mandated that the US Department of Justice release millions of files related to the investigation of the sex offender, whose death in a Manhattan prison in 2019 was ruled a suicide.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer, has interviewed at least 10 people in closed-door sessions since the files were released, about half of which took place last month. Those interviewed include former president Bill Clinton, and Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce in the administration of President Donald Trump.
Pam Bondi, the attorney general in the Trump administration until early April, was interviewed late last month to talk to the Justice Department about handling the files.
He first met Epstein after his conviction
Gates expressed confidence on Australia’s Nine News in an interview earlier this year that any investigation into Epstein would not implicate him in criminal or improper conduct. He denied ever going to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, where abuse of children and young women is alleged to have taken place, or meeting women through Epstein for the purpose of having sex.
“The more that comes out, the more it will become clear – although it’s time [with Epstein] it was a mistake – it had nothing to do with that kind of behaviour,” Gates told Nine.
Former US Attorney General Pam Bondi drew the ire of Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors after she gave sealed testimony about her handling of sex-related documents.
As with former president Clinton, who started a foundation involved in global health and said that Epstein provided his private jet to travel to foreign countries, Gates previously placed his connection with Epstein as focusing on philanthropic efforts through what was then known as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“The focus was that he knew a lot of very rich people and he said he could get them to give money to the world’s health,” Gates told an Australian broadcaster. “Looking back, that was the end and I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again, it was stupid to spend time with him, I’m one of the many people who regret knowing him.”
Unlike Clinton, Trump, Victoria’s Secret founder Leslie Wexner and others – who first crossed paths with Epstein in the 1980s and 1990s – Gates got to know the financier after serving 13 months in prison on federal charges in Florida since 2008 on one count of attempted prostitution and a lesser count of prostitution.
Gates said the communication with Epstein took place between 2011 and 2014.
Earlier this year, the Gates Foundation said it had not made financial payments to Epstein or employed him at any time, but that an external review of the foundation’s communications with Epstein would take place.
In 2021, the New York Times reported that Gates was having dinner at Epstein’s in Manhattan and was flying on his plane. Before meeting with Gates, Epstein informed foundation members of his conviction in Florida, according to the newspaper.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faced reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as he entered a closed court hearing regarding Jeffrey Epstein, and his past relationships, including a controversial island visit, after scrutiny.
The Gates Foundation conducts external reviews
Documents released by the Department of Justice include photos of the Microsoft founder posing with women whose faces have been altered, although the context of those photos and other images of high-profile figures released by the department was not always clear.
According to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this year, the billionaire apologized to Gates Foundation employees at a town hall. It is reported that uahe admitted to the Foundation staff that he had issues and two Russians wreport that Epstein later discovered, but that those women were not Epstein’s victims.
Gates told Nine that he never received an email written by Epstein obtained by the Department of Justice, which talks about Gates and Russian prostitutes.
Still, the revelations have caused reputational damage, and Gates told Nine that he understands that people like him should be kept at a “very high level” of association.
Melinda Gates French, the billionaire’s ex-wife who left the foundation two years ago, previously told CBS News that she had made it clear at the time to her ex-husband that she did not approve of Epstein’s meetings.
The release of the files took a closer look at the number of people who had relationships with Epstein. In both the US and Europe, several people have resigned since the files were released.
On Wednesday, the committee interviewed Lesley Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001 after seeking employment through a headhunter, and stayed until 2019, the year he died.
Groff, who was married, never stayed at any of Epstein’s properties and was involved in arranging appointments and traveling with Epstein. A summary of an FBI interview with Groff that was released by the US government suggests that Groff stated that he believed booking massages for Epstein was the same as any appointment, without a suggestion of impropriety.
Several victims in court or in interviews with the media described this smearing as a trick by Epstein to sexually abuse her.
Groff “has been saying he didn’t know about the abuse going on. I’ll be honest with you, I seriously doubt that,” Democratic Representative Yassamin Ansari of Arizona told CNN in an interview Tuesday.
Front burner31:06Epstein’s orbit: will justice be served?
