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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told U.S. lawmakers at a House panel investigating the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that his meetings with the late financier 15 years ago were a “grave error in judgment.”
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During his appearance at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, Gates also accused Epstein of trying to blackmail him over his extramarital affairs.
In a written statement obtained by the Washington Post ahead of his testimony, Gates said: “I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated.”
Gates said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 and was interested in connecting with the late financier to raise money for his philanthropic foundation.
He called their meeting “a grave error in judgment” and said he stopped communicating with Epstein in 2014 when he realized the late financier wasn’t going to deliver on his promise of donors to support his charitable efforts on global health issues.
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Acknowledging that he had been unfaithful to his wife Melinda, Gates said Epstein tried to “use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him.”
Though Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing, the Microsoft co-founder’s name has appeared thousands of times in documents released by the U.S. Justice Department related to the Epstein investigation, including photos of him posing with women whose faces were redacted.
Among the documents were draft emails attributed to Epstein that made scandalous claims about Gates’ affairs, including one about Gates contracting a sexually transmitted infection from “Russian girls.”
The tech guru previously denied those claims.
Gates’ testimony before the bipartisan committee followed high-profile appearances by former U.S. president Bill Clinton , former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick .