US media revealed that Bill Gates admitted in front of Gates Foundation employees that he had contact with Jeffrey Epstein after the financier had served his sentence for sexual offenses, and acknowledged that he had relationships with two Russian women.
Foreign news agencies reported on 25 Feb 2026 that the Gates Foundation stated in a release that Bill Gates had “taken responsibility for his actions” regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the accused sexual offender, during a town hall meeting with the foundation’s staff.
The foundation said that Gates answered various questions at the biannual meeting held on 24 February, including about the release of Epstein case documents. The foundation added, “During the town hall, Bill spoke openly, answered many questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.”
The statement was issued in response to a Wall Street Journal report that Gates apologized to staff at the event concerning his relationship with Epstein.
Previously released US Department of Justice documents showed that Gates and Epstein met multiple times to discuss expanding the scope of Gates’ charitable work, with these meetings occurring after Epstein served a 13-month jail term in 2009 for procuring minors for prostitution.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing recordings of Gates’ remarks during the town hall, Gates told staff it was a major mistake to spend time with Epstein and that he had involved Gates Foundation executives in meetings with the convicted sex offender.
“I apologize to others who were drawn into this because of the mistakes I made,” Gates said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal further reported that Gates admitted to having secret extramarital relationships with two Russian women, which Epstein later learned about, but Gates affirmed that these women were not Epstein’s victims.
“I did nothing illegal, and I do not see anything illegal,” Gates told the staff.
The released Epstein case documents included photos of Gates posing with several women whose faces were blurred. Previously, Gates stated that his relationship with Epstein was limited to discussing philanthropy and admitted that meeting Epstein was a mistake.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates told the foundation’s employees that those photos were taken at Epstein’s request with a group of Epstein’s aides after meetings, and emphasized, “To be clear, I never spent time with victims or women around him.”
Other documents showed that Epstein once tried to mediate a dispute between Gates and an advisor named Boris Nikolic in 2013. Epstein also emailed himself saying that Gates and his aides treated him poorly, despite their close relationship, including a time when Gates asked for antibiotics to treat a sexually transmitted infection contracted from a “Russian woman.”
Melinda French, Gates’ ex-wife who divorced him in 2021, addressed the allegations on 5 February, saying, “Any remaining questions about what I have learned, which I cannot fully know, should be directed to that group or my ex-husband himself. They must answer those questions, not me.”
The Gates Foundation stated in early February that it had never paid Epstein any money nor hired him at any time.
Last week, Bill Gates canceled plans to attend the AI Impact Summit in India just hours before his scheduled keynote speech on 19 February, amid escalating allegations related to Epstein’s case.
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Source:usatoday