Bill Gates apologized to Gates Foundation staff on Tuesday for his past interactions with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, acknowledging in an internal town hall that the situation puts the foundation’s reputation at risk, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Gates met with Epstein multiple times from 2011 to 2014, years after the financier had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution, and continued the meetings even after his then-wife Melinda French Gates raised concerns in 2013, according to the WSJ report.
He told staff it was “a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein” and to bring foundation executives into meetings with the sex offender, the newspaper reported.
In the town hall, Gates acknowledged two extramarital affairs (with a Russian bridge player and a Russian nuclear physicist) that Epstein later discovered through Gates’s former science adviser Boris Nikolic, the WSJ reported. Gates insisted he didn’t participate in or witness any of Epstein’s crimes, telling staff, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.”
Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims.
During the town hall, he acknowledged the broader implications for the foundation.
“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the Foundation and the goals of the foundation,” he said, according to the recording reviewed by the newspaper. “And our work is very reputational sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”
In a statement to GeekWire, a Gates Foundation spokesperson said the town hall was a regularly scheduled internal event that Gates holds twice a year.
“Bill answered questions submitted by foundation staff on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files, the foundation’s work in AI, and the future of global health,” the spokesperson said. “Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.”
Last week, Gates abruptly cancelled a planned keynote address at India’s AI Impact Summit hours before he was scheduled to speak, with the foundation saying at the time that the decision was made “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities.”
In a previous statement, the Gates Foundation said it was “aware of emails recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice” involving communication between Epstein and foundation staff, and that a small number of employees had interacted with Epstein based on his claims that he could “mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development.”
It said no collaboration was pursued and no payments were ever made to Epstein.
Separately on Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Epstein built a network of connections across Microsoft over more than two decades, reaching deeper into the company than any other major tech firm.
The documents show Epstein receiving updates on Microsoft’s CEO search, offering advice to executives, and gaining access to confidential company business.
Among those named in the NYT report: former CTO Nathan Myhrvold, who vouched for Epstein to Gates; former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, who shared confidential Microsoft information with Epstein and sought his advice on his exit package; and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a current Microsoft board member who visited Epstein’s island and continued communicating with him through 2018, according to the newspaper.
Microsoft communications chief Frank Shaw told the NYT that the company was “disappointed” by emails between Epstein and former employees “acting in their personal capacities.”
The Seattle Times has separately reported on deeper ties between Myhrvold and Epstein, including emails showing the two met regularly in Seattle and New York from 2010 through 2018, and correspondence that appeared to show Myhrvold visiting Epstein’s private island.
Myhrvold was also listed as a “friend” in Epstein’s 2003 birthday book and contributed a personal letter to the project, as GeekWire previously reported.
A spokesperson for Myhrvold said previously that he knew Epstein “from TED conferences and as a donor to basic scientific research” and “regrets that he ever met him.”
The Epstein revelations have had significant consequences elsewhere.
Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Tom Pritzker stepped down over his ties to Epstein, Goldman Sachs chief legal officer Kathy Ruemmler resigned, Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been charged with aggravated corruption, and former British ambassador Peter Mandelson was arrested in connection with the disclosures.
In addition to his role at the foundation, Gates continues to advise Microsoft and serve as chairman of Bellevue-based TerraPower. Hoffman remains on the Microsoft board. Myhrvold is CEO of Intellectual Ventures and vice chairman of the TerraPower board.
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