Bill Gates acknowledged having two extramarital affairs with Russian women and apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation for his past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a report Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said Gates made the remarks during a staff meeting Tuesday, while insisting he had not engaged in or witnessed any illegal activity.
“I had two affairs,” Gates was quoted as saying, according to the report. “One with a Russian bridge player I met at a bridge event, and another with a Russian nuclear physicist I met through business.”
Gates also acknowledged traveling on a private jet with Epstein and spending time with him in the United States and abroad. However, he maintained he did not participate in or observe any criminal conduct.
“I did not do or see anything illegal. To be clear, I never spent time with his victims,” Gates said, according to the Journal.
The report said Gates first met Epstein in 2011, several years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor. Gates continued to associate with him despite concerns raised by his then-wife, Melinda French Gates.
“Melinda was always skeptical of Epstein,” Gates said, according to the report. “I apologize to anyone who was hurt by the mistake I made. It was completely contrary to the foundation’s values and mission.”
Earlier this month, emails released by the U.S. Justice Department included draft messages Epstein wrote to himself alleging that Gates had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from Russian women and sought antibiotics to secretly give to his wife at the time. Gates has previously denied those allegations.
One draft email dated July 18, 2013, with the subject line “Bill,” contained claims that Gates requested antibiotics to treat a sexually transmitted infection and asked that related emails be deleted. The drafts were not sent, according to the documents.
The Journal reported that the emails appeared to have been written for Boris Nikolic, a former science adviser to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Nikolic resigned from his advisory role in 2014. In 2019, a spokesperson for Nikolic said he had no business relationship with Epstein.
Gates has previously described his relationship with Epstein as a mistake and said he regrets meeting with him. He has denied any wrongdoing.