Bill Gates would undoubtedly wish to retract his entire association with the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, if he had the power to do so. As more and more documents related to Epstein become public, numerous individuals named within them are speaking out about their inclusion—including the Microsoft founder.
"Every moment I spent with him, I regret," Gates told Charles Croucher of 9 News Australia in an interview shared on February 4th. "And I apologize for having done that."
Regarding the allegations found within the documents released on January 30th, which saw Epstein claim in an email that Gates had transgressions with women and contracted an STD from one such encounter, Gates vehemently denied the accusations.
"Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself," Gates explained. "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?"
He added, "I never went to the island, I never met any women. And so, the more that comes out, the clearer it'll be that."
While the tech mogul admitted that spending any time with Epstein was a mistake, he affirmed that their social encounters "had nothing to do with that kind of behavior." The 70-year-old also shared more insight into the nature of his and Epstein's relationship, saying the pair only ever "went to dinner" together, during which they discussed business opportunities.
"The focus was always on the fact that he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health," he explained. "In retrospect, that was a dead end. I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him."
This is not the first time Gates has expressed regret over his association with Epstein. In 2021, he told CNN's Anderson Cooper, "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there." At the time, he also affirmed that the relationship ended when Epstein's philanthropic promises turned out to be not "a real thing."
Meanwhile, Gates' ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, to whom he was married from 1994 to 2021, alluded to his inclusion in the documents.
"For me, it's personally hard whenever those details come up," she said during an appearance on NPR's Wild Card podcast on February 3rd. "Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage."
"Whatever questions remain there about what—I can't even begin to know all of it—those questions are for those people and even my ex-husband," she continued. "They need to answer to those things, not me."
