Report: Bill Gates Had a Much Closer Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein Than Was Previously Revealed
A new report claims that for about three years, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates would hang out with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Sunday report by The Daily Beast, based entirely on unnamed sources, claims that Epstein offered Gates advice about getting out of his marriage with his wife, Melinda. The couple announced earlier this month they were divorcing.
The report claimed that Gates told Epstein his marriage was “toxic.”
Gates, in turn, tried to counsel Epstein about his public image, which suffered a serious blow in 2008 after he pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl for sex, according to The Daily Beast. Epstein died in a Manhattan prison in August 2019. His death has been listed as a suicide.
The topic of Epstein working for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was discussed, the report said.
“The billionaire met Epstein dozens of times starting in 2011 and continuing through to 2014 mostly at the financier’s Manhattan home — a substantially higher number than has been previously reported,” according to The Daily Beast.
“Gates found freedom in Epstein’s lair, where he met a rotating cast of bold-faced names and discussed worldly issues in between rounds of jokes and gossip,” the report said, calling it a “‘men’s club’ atmosphere that irritated Melinda.”
The Daily Beast report characterized the tech guru’s attendance at Epstein’s events as a way of seeking refuge from his wife.
“‘[It’s] not an overstatement. Going to Jeffrey’s was a respite from his marriage. It was a way of getting away from Melinda,” the report quoted a source who it said was “one of the people who was at several of the meetings” as saying. The source called Epstein and Gates “very close.”
The Daily Beast reported that Melinda Gates disliked Epstein, and that her opposition to her husband meeting with Epstein eventually ended the two men’s connection.
A statement from a Gates spokesperson poured cold water on the report.
“Your characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate, including who participated. Similarly, any claim that Gates spoke of his marriage or Melinda in a disparaging manner is false,” the statement said.
“Bill never received or solicited personal advice of any kind from Epstein — on marriage or anything else. Bill never complained about Melinda or his marriage to Epstein.”
An unnamed source for the report in The Daily Beast theorized that Gates attended the events because he “enjoys talking and ideas and basically arguing with people, and he can be a really brutal person to argue with.”
“He likes nothing better than to get together and debate or lecture people, or tell everyone what he’s doing with the polio vaccine. He has an ability, unlike any other person I’ve ever met, to lecture to a table of people without stopping for an hour.
“Anyone that gave him a stage for a performance and said, ‘Bill, come talk to us about what you’re passionate about,’ that would be something he would enjoy.”
However, when publicity following Epstein’s death revealed that the tech mogul had at one time been pals with Epstein, Melinda Gates began putting the wheels in motion for the divorce that was announced this month, according to The New York Times.
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