Bill Gates tells staff he did 'nothing illicit' in friendship with Jeffrey Epstein but admits to cheating on his wife

The Microsoft founder issued an apology to staff at his charitable foundation today after details of his friendship with the paedophile financier were revealed in the last batch of Epstein Files.

Speaking at the latest biannual Gates Foundation town hall meeting, the billionaire "spoke candidly" about the relationship and admitted to two affairs with Russian women.

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He went on to apologise to foundation executives for introducing them to Epstein, saying: "To be clear, I never spent any time with victims or the women around him.

“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein. I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made."

But he added: "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit."

Discussing why he became friends with Epstein, Gates said he was drawn in by his "talk about the kind of intimate relationship he had with a lot of billionaires, particularly Wall Street billionaires,” which could help with his fundraising goals.

The charity founder went on to explain how he met the convicted sex offender in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida.

The tech entrepreneur said he had not looked into the paedo's background, but said his then-wife Melinda Gates had expressed concern about the financier in 2013.

But he ignored her caution and continued to see him socially.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates said: "Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behavior."

Discussing his ex-wife, he added: "To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing."

He then went on to say he took trips on his private jet and spent time with him in Germany, France, New York, and Washington in 2014.

Gates added that he "never stayed overnight" at his properties or visited Little St James, his now-notorious private Caribbean island.

He never saw Epstein after this, Gates claims, but there were “ancillary issues” that Epstein continued to email him about, which he did not respond to.

A picture of Gates with two unidentified women were released by the US Department of Justice in January.

Gates said the women in the photo were Epstein's assistants, whom the billionaire had asked to pose with him.

Gates established his philanthropic organisation alongside his then wife, Melinda. They divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

"It definitely is the opposite of the values of the foundation and the goals of the foundation," Gates admitted.

"And our work is very reputation-sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us."

A Gates Foundation spokesperson told the WSJ that its founder addressed several questions from staff and "took responsibility for his actions".