Bill Gates acknowledged in testimony before a U.S. congressional committee that he may have been in the presence of some of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, while insisting that he never witnessed or participated in any sexual misconduct. The transcript of Gates’s voluntary interview with the House Oversight Committee was released as part of a wider investigation into Epstein’s network and the connections he maintained with powerful public figures.
During the closed-door interview on Capitol Hill, Gates said his three-year relationship with Epstein was professional in nature and connected to philanthropic goals. He told investigators that he was interested in possible cooperation because Epstein claimed he could help raise billions of dollars for global health projects. Gates said that this philanthropic opportunity never materialized and that he now regrets not taking Epstein’s reputation and criminal past more seriously.
A key moment in the questioning came when Democratic Representative Robert Garcia pointed out that the committee’s investigation had shown that some of Epstein’s employees were also his victims. Gates was then asked whether he could exclude the possibility that he had been close to them. He answered that he could not, recalling that he had seen some of Epstein’s younger employees at the end of a meeting on Epstein’s private plane. Gates said it was possible that he had been in the presence of victims.
At the same time, Gates categorically denied that he had ever seen, known about, or taken part in any form of sexual exploitation or abuse. He maintained that his contact with Epstein was defined by professional and philanthropic discussions, not by personal participation in Epstein’s criminal activities.
The testimony also revealed that Epstein had allegedly tried to pressure Gates using sensitive information about his private life. Gates said that after he ended cooperation with Epstein in 2014, Epstein sent him an email demanding reimbursement for “specific expenses” that he claimed to have covered in connection with a woman with whom Gates had had an affair. The reports state that the woman was a Russian citizen and that the expenses were allegedly related to her education and stay.
Investigators also questioned Gates about the beginning of his relationship with Epstein. Gates said he met Epstein in 2011 through Boris Nikolić, a Croatian-born doctor and investor who had been one of Gates’s closest advisers and served as chief adviser for science and technology at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The first recorded communication between Nikolić and Epstein in the files dates back to January 2010, only months after Epstein had been released from prison in Florida, where he had served a sentence for procuring a minor.
Gates admitted that when he met Epstein in 2011, he knew the financier had a criminal conviction of a sexual nature. However, he said he still considered professional cooperation because Epstein claimed he had access to wealthy donors who could support global health initiatives. Gates later described this as a serious error of judgment and said he regretted not treating Epstein’s criminal record with greater caution.
According to the testimony, Epstein also invited Gates to his private island and to social events, but Gates said he knew Epstein’s conviction meant he should not cross that line. He also described Epstein’s wealth as mysterious, noting that Epstein’s New York residence was one of the most spacious homes in Manhattan he had ever seen.
The House Oversight Committee also released testimony from Leslie Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant. She described Epstein as a “master manipulator” and said she had no knowledge of his crimes. Her testimony was published alongside Gates’s transcript as part of the committee’s broader effort to examine Epstein’s network and the people connected to him.
Gates also said he had voluntarily cooperated with the office of the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands, including by giving an interview and providing certain financial documents. Committee representatives said the investigation would continue, with the aim of fully exposing Epstein’s financing network and supporting the search for legal justice for surviving victims.
