Microsoft founder Bill Gates has taken responsibility for his past ties to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a town hall meeting with employees of the Gates Foundation, a spokesperson confirmed.
In a written statement to Reuters on Tuesday (24 February), the spokesperson responded to a report by The Wall Street Journal, which said Gates had apologised to staff over his relationship with Epstein.
Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indicate that Gates and Epstein met repeatedly after Epstein’s prison term to discuss expanding the Microsoft founder’s philanthropic work.
According to the Journal, Gates told employees it was a “huge mistake” to spend time with Epstein and to involve Gates Foundation executives in meetings with him. The newspaper cited a recording of Gates’s remarks at the town hall.
“I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” he said, according to the report.
The Journal also added that Gates acknowledged having had two affairs with Russian women which Epstein later discovered but said they did not involve Epstein’s victims.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates told staff, the newspaper reported.
The DOJ documents also include photographs of the Microsoft founder posing with women whose faces are redacted. Gates has previously said his interactions with Epstein were limited to discussions related to philanthropy and that meeting him had been a mistake.
According to the Journal, Gates told foundation staff that the images were taken at Epstein’s request with his assistants following meetings.
“To be clear, I never spent any time with victims - the women around him,” Gates added, according to the report.
A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told Reuters that Gates had held a scheduled town hall with employees and answered questions on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files.
“In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail and took responsibility for his actions,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that its statement reflected what was shared by Gates during the meeting and that it had no further comment on the report.
Earlier this month, the Gates Foundation said it had not made any financial payments to Epstein or employed him at any time.
Last week, Gates pulled out of India's AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote address.
Founded in 2000 by Bill Gates and his then wife, the Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest funders of global health initiatives.
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