Bill Gates appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a transcribed interview in the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Gates told the committee that he “should never have met with” Epstein, but stressed that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

Gates shared his planned opening remarks on his website in the morning ahead of his interview with the panel, which took place behind closed doors.

“At the outset, I want to state very clearly: I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct,” Gates said. “I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated.”

Gates said that his relationship to Epstein was strictly tied to his philanthropic work, but acknowledged, “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place.”

The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist is among a number of high-profile figures whose ties to Epstein have come under scrutiny in recent months due to their names and photos appearing in the files related to Epstein’s case that have been released by the Justice Department. 

And he joins a list of prominent people who have been called on to appear before the House Oversight Committee as the panel conducts its inquiry into the case, including former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Someone’s name or photo appearing in the so-called “Epstein files” is not necessarily an indication of wrongdoing. Republican Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters before the closed-door interview with Gates began on Wednesday that “no one’s accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing, and I certainly appreciate him coming in voluntarily.”

Here’s what we know about Gates’ relationship with Epstein.

Gates and Epstein met for the first time in 2011

Gates met Epstein in person for the first time on Jan. 31, 2011, as The New York Times reported in 2019, citing documents and people familiar. That initial meeting, which took place at Epstein’s home on the Upper East Side in New York, occurred three years after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

An email dated Dec. 2, 2010, that has been released by the Justice Department indicates that Gates was meant to meet Epstein weeks earlier, but the plan fell through. 

“After talking with Melinda I have decided to leave New York City after the Pete Peterson meeting. So this means I won’t have time to do another meeting and I won’t be able to do the dinner with Jeff Epstein,” Gates wrote in the email. He went on to say, “I was looking forward to the dinner. Nathan had agreed with you that I would enjoy meeting with him and that it is a fine thing to do so on another trip I will try and do it.”

Gates himself acknowledged that he first met Epstein in 2011, telling the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday in his opening remarks that he “was introduced to Epstein in 2011 through people I trusted in my professional and philanthropic work.”

“Epstein claimed he could raise billions of dollars for global health from people for whom he provided tax and estate services,” Gates said. “I recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed. I accepted the introduction without applying the scrutiny I should have.”

Documents released by the Justice Department, as well as news reports, indicate that Gates and Epstein met and communicated from 2011 to 2014. In one email exchange released by the Justice Department, dated Dec. 31, 2013 and Jan. 5, 2014, the two appear to be discussing a bet they had made about whether the euro would be the currency that performed the best in 2013. In another, dated August 2013, they seem to be coordinating plans to meet up for dinner in New York City. 

In an interview with 9News in February, Gates said that his interactions with Epstein were regarding philanthropic matters. 

“The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health,” Gates told the Australian news outlet. “In retrospect, that was a dead end and I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.”

Gates said in his opening remarks to the House Oversight Committee that he met with Epstein three times in 2011 and two in 2012, and that the focus of those encounters was Gates’ philanthropic work. They continued having “more extensive conversations in 2013 and 2014” about philanthropy, according to Gates.

“I made it clear to Epstein from the outset that he would never play a role in any of the work or receive any compensation,” Gates said. “In 2014, after Epstein brought together a group he described as potential donors, I realized that our prior discussions—which should have translated into meaningful philanthropic support—were a dead-end. It was clear that no one in the group was interested enough to move forward.”

“At that point, I concluded Epstein would never deliver on his promises,” Gates continued. “I told him we would go no further and stopped communicating or meeting with him. No vehicle for charitable giving was ever created and no funds were raised. Our interactions ended in December 2014, four years before new reports in the press and unsealed court documents shed light on the extent of his crimes.”

The Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization Gates co-founded along with his now ex-wife and for which he serves as chair, released a statement about its staff’s encounters with Epstein in February amid the renewed attention on Gates’ past relationship with the disgraced financier.

“On the basis of Epstein’s claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, a small number of foundation employees interacted with Epstein to try to secure this potential funding,” the Gates Foundation said. “Ultimately, the foundation did not pursue any collaboration with Epstein and no fund was ever created. At no time were financial payments made by the foundation to Epstein, nor was he employed by the foundation at any time.”

“The harm Epstein inflicted on women and girls was horrific, and no one should ever have to experience what they did. The safety and wellbeing of women and girls is core to the foundation’s mission of helping every person live a healthy and productive life, which we remain fully committed to,” the organization continued. “The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way.”

The foundation announced in April that its chief executive officer, Mark Suzman, had “commissioned an external review to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein,” as well as current policies for evaluating philanthropic partnerships, in March. The foundation said at the time that it anticipated that the foundation’s board and management would be given an update on the investigation this summer.

The Epstein files include allegations about Gates

Among the documents released by the Justice Department are several emails that Epstein seems to have sent to himself in July 2013 that appear to be messages intended for Gates. It is not known if Epstein wrote those messages himself.

“I cannot believe that you have chosen to disregard our friendship developed of over the last 6 years,” reads one of the emails, which begins “dear bill.” Later in the message, the writer appears to indicate that Gates wished to secretly give his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, medication to treat an STI that the writer claims Gates had contracted, saying “you them implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std,” and referencing “your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis.”

In another email, the writer says that they have decided to resign their position with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and BG3, a think tank Gates founded that has since been renamed Gates Ventures.

“During the past few weeks I have been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill,” the message reads. “In my role as his right hand I had been asked on mulitple occassion and in hindsight , wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate , to the ethically unsound and had been repeatedly asked to do other things that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal."

“From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls , to facilictating his illicit trysts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro bridge tournamnts,” it continues.

Gates has denied all of these allegations.

“Apaprently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is false,” Gates told 9News. “I don’t know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me, every minute I spent with him I regret and I apologize that I did that.”

In his opening statement to the House Oversight Committee, Gates recalled that he found out that “Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage.”

“These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates said. “As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities—in addition to many lies that he layered on top—to pressure me to re-engage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”

The Gates Foundation has also denied the allegations about Gates in these emails.

“These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said in a statement to news outlets in February. “The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”

Gates apologized for his ties to Epstein in a Gates Foundation town hall

The Gates Foundation held a town hall in February, in which Gates admitted to having two affairs with Russian women, as the emails released by the Justice Department allude to. But he said that he “never spent any time with victims, the women around [Epstein],” The Wall Street Journal reported. Gates also said that “it was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein.”

“I did nothing illicit,” he said, according to a recording of the town hall that the Journal gained access to. “I saw nothing illicit.”

Gates also expressed regret for his ties to Epstein in his opening statement to the House Oversight Committee.

“I should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” he said. “Based on what I know now, I understand that even if he had delivered the new donors he promised, it would not have justified associating with him.”

“In the work I do, reputation is the basis for developing partnerships that save lives. Meeting with Epstein was a grave error in judgement and put this work at risk,” Gates continued. “His behavior was antithetical to all my efforts to contribute to a world where everyone has a chance to live a healthy and productive life. If the time I spent with Epstein lent him any credibility, I am deeply sorry. I have learned a significant lesson and am now far more careful about who I engage with even in a limited capacity.”

Melinda French Gates said the allegations against her ex-husband filled her with “unbelievable sadness”

French Gates reacted to her ex-husband being named in the Epstein files in an interview with NPR’s Wild Card podcast in February.

“For me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage,” she said.

French Gates went on to say that the allegations about her ex-husband in the Epstein files made her feel “unbelievable sadness.”

The Journal reported in 2021 that Gates’ connection to Epstein caused tension between the now ex-couple before they ultimately split. French Gates apparently began raising concerns about Gates’ association with Epstein in 2013, according to the Journal.n caused tension between the now ex-couple before they ultimately split. French Gates apparently began raising concerns about Gates’ association with Epstein in 2013, according to the Journal.