Bill Gates

Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft and was, until 2021, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He met Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions beginning in 2011 — years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Documented Meetings

According to the New York Times, which reported on the relationship in October 2019, Gates met with Epstein on numerous occasions, including at least three times at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. The first in-person meeting took place in January 2011, and the contact continued into 2013, including a dinner at Epstein’s residence and a flight on Epstein’s private plane that year. The relationship began roughly three years after Epstein’s conviction and release from a Florida jail.

Gates has said the meetings concerned hoped-for funding for global health and philanthropy. In a 2021 CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, he said: “It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there.” He added: “I had several dinners with him, you know, hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge. When it looked like that wasn’t a real thing, that relationship ended.”

In a 2011 email reviewed by the New York Times, written after his first meeting with Epstein, Gates told colleagues that Epstein’s “lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me.” A Gates spokeswoman later said the email referred to the décor of Epstein’s residence and his habit of bringing acquaintances in to meet Gates, and stated that “Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so.”

Gates Foundation staff also explored a possible philanthropic vehicle in connection with Epstein — reporting describes discussions involving the foundation, JPMorgan and a proposed global health investment fund — but no charitable partnership ultimately resulted, and Gates’s own dealings with Epstein wound down around 2014.

Melinda French Gates and the Divorce

Bill and Melinda Gates announced their separation in May 2021 and finalized their divorce on August 2, 2021, after 27 years of marriage.

In a CBS Mornings interview with Gayle King that aired March 3, 2022, Melinda French Gates pointed to her then-husband’s contact with Epstein as something she had objected to, saying, “I did not like that he’d had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein.” She characterized the decision to divorce as the product of more than one issue: “It’s not one thing; it was many things.”

French Gates said she met Epstein once because she “wanted to see who this man was” and “regretted it from the second I stepped in the door,” describing him as “abhorrent” and “evil personified” and saying she had nightmares afterward.

2026 Developments

In February 2026, Gates withdrew from a scheduled appearance at an artificial intelligence summit in India as questions about his Epstein association resurfaced. The withdrawal — hours before a scheduled keynote at the AI Impact Summit on February 19, 2026 — followed Justice Department releases of documents that included correspondence between Gates Foundation staff and Epstein concerning charitable matters. The Gates Foundation said the decision was made “to ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities,” and Ankur Vora, president of the foundation’s Africa and India offices, delivered the keynote in his place. Gates has continued to characterize meeting Epstein as a serious error in judgment while denying any improper conduct.

What Is Established

Gates has not been accused of any criminal conduct in connection with Epstein, and reporting on the released documents does not allege that he participated in or knew of Epstein’s crimes. The documented facts are: he met Epstein multiple times after the 2008 conviction, Gates Foundation staff discussed possible philanthropic arrangements with Epstein, and no charitable partnership resulted. Gates has repeatedly described the association as a mistake and an error in judgment, and has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Documents

Primary-source records that name or reference Bill Gates. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; Gates has called meeting Epstein a serious error in judgment and has denied any wrongdoing.

• DOJ Epstein Files (EFTA release) — The Justice Department’s Epstein Files Transparency Act disclosure (the roughly 3-million-page release made in early 2026) includes correspondence between Epstein and Gates Foundation staff concerning hoped-for philanthropy. The Gates Foundation has confirmed the emails and said it ultimately pursued no collaboration with Epstein and made no payments to him. The release also contained unsent draft emails Epstein wrote to himself making claims about Gates; Gates has said those claims are false and were never sent.