Bill Gates opens up about his friendship with former financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a recent interview.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, former Microsoft CEO makes a big confession about the time he spent with late sex offender.
The 69-year-old told WSJ, “In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him. And he, sort of, got time with various people by spending time with other people. So yes, I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that it was just a huge mistake."
He also discussed how meeting with Epstein led to controversies that made him cautious about building new relationships.
Moreover, WSJ in 2023 reported that the financier threatened the billionaire to expose his alleged relationship with Russian bridge player in 2017 to his now-ex-wife Melinda French Gates after he failed to get him to invest in a charity that never reached maturity.
While a spokesperson for Bill told PEOPLE, “Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates."
The spokesperson also claimed that the two never had “any financial dealing.”
Notably, Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in August 2019 while waiting for the trial on the charges of federal conspiracy and sex trafficking.
