Bill Gates Admits to Multiple Affairs in Epstein Fallout
Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images
Posted For: stormykitteh
Bill Gates addressed staff at the Gates Foundation on Tuesday, offering an apology for his past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and acknowledging two extramarital affairs.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Gates told employees during a town hall meeting that he had maintained contact with Epstein years after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Gates admitted that the relationship was a mistake and expressed regret for the judgment he showed in continuing contact.
During the meeting, Gates also acknowledged having had two affairs — one with a Russian bridge player and another with a Russian nuclear physicist whom he met through business connections. He said that both women later met Epstein, but emphasized that he had met them first and denied any knowledge of illicit activity. “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” he told staff, according to the Journal.
Addressing recently released photographs included in court documents related to Epstein, which showed him in the company of young women whose faces were blurred, Gates said the women were assistants working for Epstein. He stated that he never spent time with victims connected to Epstein.
Gates said he failed to conduct adequate due diligence before meeting Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein’s guilty plea. “I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates said, adding that what has since come to light makes the association “a hundred times worse.”
Although Gates traveled on several occasions with Epstein in the United States and Europe through 2014, he maintained that he never stayed overnight at Epstein’s properties.
The newly released documents have renewed scrutiny of Gates’ relationship with Epstein, as well as his extramarital relationships. In the years following Epstein’s death, reports suggested that Epstein may have attempted to leverage knowledge of Gates’ affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova.
Antonova reportedly met Gates at a bridge tournament in 2010 and later met Epstein in 2013. According to prior reporting by the Journal, Epstein later provided funds to support her schooling. The alleged attempt at financial leverage surfaced in 2017, when Epstein approached Gates regarding covering Antonova’s educational expenses.
Gates concluded his remarks to staff by reiterating that spending time with Epstein was a serious error in judgment.
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