Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told House lawmakers Wednesday that sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein used his marital infidelities “to pressure me to reengage with him.”
The billionaire philanthropist delivered the startling comment in his opening statement to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which interviewed Mr. Gates behind closed doors as part of an extended investigation into Epstein and his sex crimes.
Lawmakers questioned Mr. Gates about the claim and told reporters afterward that the allegation lined up with what they had learned about Epstein’s behavior with other associates, his employees and the women he victimized.
“There were a couple of extramarital affairs that Epstein found out about from close associates of Mr. Gates … and it was a pressuring method,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts Democrat. “I think that Epstein saw a vulnerability and tried to use that as leverage. You can call it blackmail or anything else, but that was definitely a tactic, [and] we have found he uses that over and over again.”
Mr. Gates was the 15th to testify among a string of high-profile witnesses summoned to the panel to discuss Epstein. Authorities say Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell in 2019 after he was arrested on federal charges of trafficking dozens of girls, many of them younger than 18.
Mr. Gates is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said he is adding to the list of witnesses in the investigation and has asked for an interview with onetime Epstein friend and former Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz.
Mr. Comer is also in talks about interviewing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Mr. Blanche appeared before the panel for questioning earlier this year, but Mr. Comer wants to bring him back to further discuss the Justice Department’s handling of the release of more than 3 million pages of the government’s Epstein files.
Democrats are also eager to ask Mr. Blanche about their own unsubstantiated claims of a government cover-up that they say the Trump administration is orchestrating to protect the president and his powerful and wealthy friends.
Mr. Blanche’s questioning is expected in July, Mr. Comer said, presumably after he is confirmed as attorney general.
Other witnesses the committee plans to question this summer include billionaire financier Leon Black, a top Epstein client, and Doug Band, who served as a senior aide to former President Bill Clinton during the time Mr. Clinton associated with Epstein.
Mr. Gates and Epstein, a wealthy financier, were associates for several years. Mr. Gates appeared in photos from the Epstein files alongside unidentified women, and his name appears in email correspondence.
Mr. Gates is the subject of a draft email Epstein wrote to himself in 2013 in which Epstein claimed he facilitated illicit trysts for Mr. Gates and provided him with drugs to treat a sexually transmitted disease.
The draft email opens with the line, “Dear Bill, I cannot believe that you have chosen to both disregard and discard our friendship developed over the last 6 years.”
Lawmakers said Mr. Gates told them Epstein was lying in the email.
He also told the panel, according to his written statement, that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.”
Mr. Gates flew aboard Epstein’s private jet but said he never traveled to Epstein’s island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, nor did he visit Epstein’s ranch or Florida home.
“I have never victimized anyone,” Mr. Gates said.
As for his friendship with Epstein, Mr. Gates said, there was none. The two interacted only about his charity.
“While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” Mr. Gates told lawmakers.
Mr. Gates was married to Melinda French Gates from 1994 until their divorce in 2021. They have three grown children. In recent years, Mr. Gates revealed that he had affairs with a Microsoft employee and two Russian women. Epstein learned of some of his infidelities through Mr. Gates’ aides, lawmakers said.
Mr. Gates said he met Epstein in 2011 and was interested in Epstein’s claim that he could steer donations from his wealthy friends toward Mr. Gates’ global health organization. The donations never materialized, Mr. Gates said, and by 2014, he had broken off contact with Epstein.
After that, Mr. Gates said, the two became entangled again because one of Mr. Gates’ employees, who was leaving the organization, had consulted with Epstein about his employment separation.
“His involvement resulted in email exchanges, calls, and meetings with members of my team and me,” said Mr. Gates, adding that he did not want or need Epstein’s consultation.
“It was after this that I learned Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage,” Mr. Gates said. “These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family. 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.”
Mr. Gates said the tactic did not work but demonstrated Epstein’s efforts to “leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”
Mr. Gates told lawmakers in his opening statement that, when he met Epstein in 2011, he was unaware of the details of Epstein’s 2008 plea deal in Florida on charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Democrats who emerged from the interview after a round of questioning said Mr. Gates knew about the 2008 conviction.
“He admitted that he knew that he had been convicted of sexual crimes, but ultimately, in his words, he viewed this narrow relationship as being an acceptable means to access wealthy donors,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, New Mexico Democrat.
Mr. Gates said he was lured into the relationship by Epstein’s promise, which turned out to be false, that he could steer billions of dollars into Mr. Gates’ global health organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“I recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” Mr. Gates said. “I accepted the introduction without applying the scrutiny I should have.”
Some lawmakers say Epstein trafficked the girls, many of them underage, to a wealthy and powerful list of clients whose names have been shielded.
No client list has ever been found, but Epstein’s victims say they were told to engage in sexual activity with powerful men.
Mr. Comer said the committee has been in contact with Epstein’s victims and asked them to comb over transcripts of the interviews they are conducting and to report whether anyone appears to be withholding the truth.
On Tuesday, the panel interviewed Epstein’s longtime executive assistant, Lesley Groff. Her tasks included scheduling massages for Epstein from an ever-growing list of girls and scheduling Epstein’s meetings with VIPs.
“We’re bringing people in, and one thing that’s clear is many of these people have never been interviewed by the government,” Mr. Comer said. “They’ve never been interviewed by the FBI. They’ve never been interviewed by the Department of Justice. So this is the first time there’s been a substantive investigation, and I’m happy with the work that we’ve done thus far.”
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