Bill Gates stated that it was “foolish” to spend time with Jeffrey Epstein, expressing regret for ever having met him, and dismissed an email in the latest released files as “fake.”
In an interview in Australia, the billionaire said: “Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent; it was fake. So I don’t know what he was thinking there.”
He added: “It reminds me that I regret every minute I spent with him and I apologize for having done so.” Gates appears to be referring to an email addressed “Dear Bill” that Epstein sent to himself in July 2013, according to international media reports.
In the email, Epstein complained that Gates had “chosen to disregard our friendship” and referred to a “sexual illness.” Epstein accused Gates of asking him to “secure antibiotics that could be secretly given to Melinda”—referring to his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
Gates discussed his relationship with Epstein in the interview with 9 News Australia:
“It was actually true that I was alone at dinners. I never went to the Island, I never met any woman…”
Gates leads the Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organization working to reduce disease and poverty worldwide.
He said: “I met Jeffrey in 2011. The focus was always that he knew a lot of very wealthy people and claimed he could persuade them to donate to global health.”
He added: “I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.”
Prior to the interview, a spokesperson for Gates commented on the accusation: “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents show is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and how far he was willing to go to trap and defame him.”
