- Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, said he regrets every minute spent with Jeffrey Epstein
- The billionaire philanthropist denies Epstein’s claims of extramarital affairs and illicit activity
- His wife, Melinda French Gates, says the documents revive painful memories from their marriage
The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates, has expressed regret over “every minute” he spent with convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein, even as his former wife, Melinda French Gates, said questions remain about his relationship with Epstein.
The latest batch of documents released by the US Justice Department last week included emails between Epstein and numerous prominent figures, often revealing warm connections, financial dealings, and private photos.
In one draft email from Epstein, he claimed Gates engaged in extramarital affairs, writing that his relationship with Gates ranged from “helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women.”
“Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize,” Gates told 9News Australia in an interview broadcast on Wednesday, February 4. “That email was never sent. The email is false. I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way?”
A spokesperson for Gates echoed this denial after the latest cache of documents related to the Epstein investigation, who died by suicide in prison in 2019, became public.
“The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” the spokesperson said.
Melinda French Gates told US National Public Radio that the release of the documents brought back “memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.”
“For me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up,” she said. “Whatever questions remain there of what, I can’t even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”
Bill Gates told 9News that he first met Epstein in 2011 and had several dinners with him over three years but never visited his Caribbean island and did not engage in relationships with women.
“The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end,” Gates said.
While appearing in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing, the documents have highlighted Epstein’s connections with public figures who have often downplayed, or denied, their ties.
“Depopulation agenda”: Nigerians react as Bill Gates discusses new MMS drug for pregnant women
In an earlier report, TheRadar compiled some reactions from Nigerians as Bill Gates announced that Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) has been added to pregnant women’s routine drugs to curb maternal anaemia. He said malnutrition starts at an early stage in life and in order to fight it, it is best to help mothers before and during pregnancy.
Some netizens advised pregnant women to eat healthily to fight malnutrition instead of taking pills while others expressed worry over the effects the drug will have on the next generation.