Report: Bill Gates Privately Apologizes to His Foundation Over Epstein Ties, Admits 'Affairs' with Russians
The looming specter of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continues to hang above the heads of some of the richest and most powerful men on earth.
And few men are more rich or powerful than billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
The 70-year-old Gates has been one of the most prominent names attached to the recently released Epstein files, and for obvious reasons, it’s raised a lot of eyebrows.
(For the unaware, Epstein allegedly ran an underage sex trafficking ring that catered to societal elites.)
This trove of released files includes things like email correspondences and images — some of which included Gates.
Latest Epstein Photos Released: Some of the photos show figures, including Gates, standing alongside anonymous women.
See more: https://t.co/iETwWWHDK5
📸: House Oversight Committee via Jeffrey Epstein Estate pic.twitter.com/m4HBlxrjX9— Forbes (@Forbes) December 19, 2025
While Gates has long downplayed the relationship between himself and Epstein, multiple reports over the years have indicated that the two were actually quite close.
Between that alleged friendship and the inclusion in the files, Gates has had a lot to answer for.
And apparently, part of that involved coming clean to his own charity organization, the Gates Foundation.
According to a sobering report from The Wall Street Journal, Gates personally apologized to various staffers at the Gates Foundation.
As part of that apology, Gates did admit to having a pair of affairs with Russian women, which Epstein eventually found out about.
“I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities,” Epstein told staffers, per Mediaite.
Gates even broached the touchy subject of his divorced ex-wife, though he was largely complimentary of her ability to sense that something was amiss with Epstein — which Melinda French Gates has been very vocal about.
“To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing,” Gates said.
Of note, an unearthed email from Epstein had previously claimed that Gates was trying to conceal the fact he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from one of the “Russian girls” from his then-wife.
Despite this confluence of factors, Gates did stress to his staffers that he was not involved in anything illegal.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates reportedly said. “To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him.”
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