What we learned from Bill Gates’ conversation with Congress about Epstein

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates told a conference panel that files released by the Justice Department in January added to his scandal over his dealings 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 Epstein, who died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial after being found guilty of suicide.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee, chaired by Republican James Comer, has interviewed more than a dozen people in recent months about their dealings with Epstein, including former US president Bill Clinton and Howard Lutnick, the current secretary of commerce under President Donald Trump.

Gates had an interview with the committee on June 10, but the transcript was released on Tuesday. Among the topics discussed were two draft emails that Epstein sent to him, and which were released by the Justice Department, containing information about some of Gates’ misunderstandings.

“You now, the stupidity of my time spent with him increased 100 times after seeing the January emails,” Gates said.

Here’s a closer look at what was learned from the Gates interview.

There is no information on Epstein’s victims

Gates said he met with Epstein about a dozen times since Jan. 31, 2011, in New York and Paris residences; at the Four Seasons in New York; at DC Airport; on a private plane as they were both flying to Florida for different purposes; and at the Gates offices in Seattle. Some of the meetings in New York, Gates said, were attended by others, from Norwegian politicians to former Barclays CEO Jes Staley to magician David Blaine.

Gates had the idea that Epstein could put him in touch with wealthy donors for the global health programs of the Gates Foundation. While meetings with several people were set up about Epstein in 2014 – including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Montreal-born media executive Mort Zuckerman – they did not result in a commitment, and Gates said he stopped contacting Epstein in December of that year, and did not respond to any of Epstein’s emails after that.

Gates said that while he saw several women around Epstein during some of these encounters, they appeared quickly and all appeared to be adults. He briefly posed for photos with several women, at Epstein’s request.

“I never spent time with any of the women that I knew were victims, that’s why I counted carefully when I saw any of those assistant managers, because, sadly, as you say, it appears in the press now that some of those women were indeed victims,” ​​he said.

Despite their connection, the late patron remains something of an enigma to Gates.

“To this day, I can’t find a fully satisfactory explanation … how he got his wealth and various things.”

What he knew about Epstein’s past

Gates became acquainted with Epstein after the financier served 13 months in prison on federal charges in Florida dating back to 2008, including one count of child prostitution.

Gates said he knew about Epstein’s “sexual nature” conviction because, “I either looked it up or someone told me.” He said he didn’t know Epstein was a registered sex offender because of that crime.

“I once met people who had been convicted of crimes and were serving their time,” said Gates. He added that he “didn’t understand that justice had not been served,” until he read about the Miami Herald’s now-famous 2018 series on Epstein, which featured the unusual interviews leading up to his conviction.

Gates said the knowledge of the conviction ensured he kept that distance, and he rebuffed attempts to socialize, including turning down repeated invitations to Epstein’s Caribbean island and one – extended by Gates Ventures adviser Boris Nikolic – to Paris’s Crazy Horse strip club.

“I felt at that time that, by explaining his role a little bit, he said that he was referring to the people who are going to bleed [the Gates Foundation’s Global Health division]that he will have no part in those things, and he will receive no compensation,” Gates said.

Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam once asked Gates, “And as it happened to him, are you doing a thorough background check now?”

Gates: “Absolutely.”

A link to those emails

It can only be assumed, but the lack of testing may have been due to the fact that Gates was connected to Epstein by someone who was one of his advisers for almost four years, Dr. Boris Nikolic.

This would ultimately backfire on Gates, as Nikolic was privy to Gates’ two extramarital affairs with Russian women – including one when Gates suggested Nikolic be “bad” when he met one of the women in London.

Gates also told Nikolic in 2013 that his wife, Melinda, was aware of two extramarital affairs with Russian women.

For reasons that remain unclear, Nikolic asked Epstein to help advise him in the negotiations surrounding Nikolic’s exit from Gates’ companies in September 2013. As a result, Gates said, Epstein made veiled comments that year that seemed to indicate he knew more about the Microsoft founder than they had discussed in a face-to-face meeting.

“I believe that [Epstein] they found out about this news about Dr. Nikolic,” Gates told the congressional delegation.

A list of documents released earlier this year revealed that in July 2013, Epstein wrote himself e-mails containing information about the two Gates affairs, as well as a reference to a sexually transmitted disease. Gates told the team on June 10 that he has never had an STD.

Members of Congress debated whether the documents were written in Epstein’s own voice, or if Epstein wrote something in Nikolic’s voice so he could communicate with Gates.

“Now that I see the release of the documents in January, it seems that many times he, at least he sent emails to himself, was practicing that he was training someone else to choose to deceive me, but none of those messages were ever sent to me,” said Gates, adding that Nikolic also did not reveal the news through emails or in person as they separated professionally.

Gates also said he was “very surprised” by media reports that Nikolic had been named executor in Epstein’s will.

Despite all this information, Gates rejected the suggestions of other members of Congress that Nikolic planned any kind of good strategy by bringing Epstein into the picture in 2011.

“I think, at some point, Boris realized that introducing Epstein was a mistake.”

The wife felt that there was a problem

In a 2022 interview with CBS News, Melinda French Gates described Epstein as “disgusting.”

Gates’ answers to the committee revealed that his ex-wife, who was heavily involved in their charitable foundation before their split, was more than biased.

“He had a very negative reaction to Mr. Epstein and he was saying, ‘Look, you know, get these donations, you know, or maybe you should just cut it off now,'” he said, referring to a 2013 dinner, French Gates’ only personal interaction with Epstein.

Asked to speculate on his reasoning, Gates chalked it up to “his instincts about proud men, or I don’t know what, but he showed better judgment than I did.”

Gates also revealed that while Nikolic had “one foot out the door” in the spring of 2013 as he considered outside opportunities, it appears that his wife at the time was more concerned about what the adviser knew about the couple’s personal affairs.

“His exit was somewhat expedited because I shared with my wife at the time that she knew about the issues I was having, and she and I discussed that maybe I should leave him sooner rather than later.”

It was, Gates said, “a faster departure than it would have otherwise.”

Read Bill Gates’ interview: