SEATTLE (Diya TV) — Bill Gates told employees he “took responsibility for his actions” over his past ties to late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a recent town hall meeting at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to a statement shared with Reuters. The comments followed a report by The Wall Street Journal that said Gates apologized to staff for meeting with Epstein years after Epstein served time in prison.
A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation confirmed that Gates spoke candidly during a scheduled town hall with employees. He answered questions on several issues, including newly released Epstein-related documents.
“In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,” the spokesperson said in a written statement. The foundation said it would not comment further beyond that statement.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gates admitted it was a “huge mistake” to spend time with Epstein. He also said he should not have brought foundation executives into meetings with the disgraced financier.
“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates said during the meeting, according to the newspaper, which cited a recording of his remarks.
Recently released documents from the U.S. Department of Justice shed more light on the relationship between Gates and Epstein. The files indicate the two men met several times after Epstein completed a prison term tied to sex offense charges. The documents state that Gates and Epstein discussed expanding the Microsoft co-founder’s philanthropic work. Gates has long said their meetings focused on global health and charitable efforts.
The files also included photographs of Gates posing with women whose faces were redacted. According to The Wall Street Journal, Gates told staff that Epstein asked him to take those photos with Epstein’s assistants after meetings. Gates denied any wrongdoing during the town hall.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” he told employees, according to the report.
He also said he never spent time with Epstein’s victims or the women connected to Epstein’s crimes. “To be clear, I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Gates said, as quoted by the newspaper.
The Journal report also stated that Gates acknowledged having two affairs with Russian women. Epstein later learned about those relationships, the newspaper said. However, the report noted that those affairs did not involve Epstein’s victims.
Gates has faced scrutiny in recent years over his association with Epstein. He has repeatedly said that meeting with Epstein was a serious error in judgment. In previous public statements, Gates described the relationship as limited to philanthropy-related discussions. He has said he regrets ever meeting with Epstein.
Earlier this month, the Gates Foundation said it never made financial payments to Epstein and never employed him. The organization emphasized that Epstein had no formal role within the foundation.
The foundation remains one of the largest private funders of global health and development programs. Gates and his then-wife founded the organization in 2000. It has since invested billions of dollars in vaccines, disease prevention, and poverty reduction efforts worldwide. Despite the controversy, foundation leaders say their work continues without interruption.
The renewed attention on Gates’ ties to Epstein comes amid increased public interest in documents released by federal authorities. The DOJ files have sparked debate over Epstein’s connections to prominent figures.
Gates also made headlines last week when he withdrew from India’s AI Impact Summit just hours before a scheduled keynote speech. The reason for his decision was not immediately clear. The latest disclosures add another chapter to the long-running scrutiny of Epstein’s network. Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
