Bill Gates told US Congress Jeffrey Epstein considered blackmail over affairs

WASHINGTON – Bill Gates told US lawmakers he believed Jeffrey Epstein may have been considering blackmailing him, according to transcripts released on June 23 by the House Oversight Committee.

In closed-door testimony June 10, Gates disputed details that Epstein recorded in e-mails to himself regarding the Microsoft co-founder’s extramarital affairs. He said Epstein was potentially trying to use that information for leverage. 

“I was not blackmailed,” Gates told the committee, but “as you look at these e-mails, you know, it looks like Mr Epstein’s brainstorming was going in that direction.”

Gates said he addressed that possibility with Epstein directly, especially as Gates said he tried to break off communication with the disgraced financier. Gates acknowledged the affairs, but he said he wasn’t connected to the women through Epstein.

Gates has repeatedly said he had no direct knowledge of Epstein’s crimes with underage victims. 

“There was the veiled type of language, hey, we should all want to be friends,” Gates said. “I took that on very explicitly and said, look, if you think you’re going to get more money out of this, it’s not going to happen, and if that means you go out and talk to people about things, I will just bear the pain of that and deal with it.”

Gates said Epstein had asked for philanthropic donations in his name, which was something Gates said “I’d been clear I was not going to do.”

The inclusion of the Microsoft co-founder –  at the time one of the world’s richest men – in Epstein’s orbit demonstrates his broad reach in the upper echelons of finance, tech and academia.

In addition to Gates, the committee investigating Epstein’s crimes has also sought testimony from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. General Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler.

Gates has publicly admitted to having multiple affairs while he was married to Melinda French Gates, which contributed to their divorce after 27 years of marriage.

“These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates said in the statement he prepared for his testimony.

“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.”

A spokesperson for Gates didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Gates said he met with Epstein 12 to 14 times, as well as two Skype calls, over a four year period. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls. Authorities ruled the death a suicide.

Washington state Representative Emily Randall, a Democrat who sits on the Oversight Committee, said the panel’s objective is to get justice for the survivors.

Leaving the hearing room where Gates testified earlier in June, she said that requires questioning those who may have not participated directly in Epstein’s crimes, but in some cases were “willing to turn away” from what should have been warning signs. 

“Mr Gates has been forthcoming and cooperative in answering questions, but I think some of his answers show us that many of the men who engaged with Jeffrey Epstein only saw what they wanted to see in their interactions,” Randall said. BLOOMBERG