ISLAMABAD: Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates acknowledged in testimony before the House Oversight Committee that he may have been in the presence of victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while maintaining that he never interacted with them directly or witnessed any sexual misconduct, House Oversight Committee reported.
A transcript of Gates’ closed-door interview, released Tuesday by the committee, sheds new light on his relationship with Epstein, which Gates described as professional in nature and lasting roughly three years.
During the voluntary interview on Capitol Hill earlier this month, Gates repeatedly denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct.
But when Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia noted that some of Epstein’s employees were later identified as abuse victims, Gates acknowledged the possibility that he had been around them.
“That’s a very good point,” Gates said, according to the transcript. He recalled seeing female employees at the conclusion of a meeting aboard one of Epstein’s private planes and added, “I may have been in the presence of victims.”
The committee sought Gates’ testimony as part of its ongoing investigation into Epstein’s network and associates. Lawmakers renewed their interest following the Justice Department’s release of additional Epstein-related files earlier this year.
The committee also released testimony Tuesday from Epstein’s longtime assistant, Lesley Groff, who described her former employer as a “master manipulator” and said she was unaware of his crimes during her years working for him.
Groff testified that she connected Epstein and President Donald Trump by telephone on multiple occasions over a decade, though she said she did not know the substance of their conversations. Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and has rejected allegations of sexual misconduct.
In his testimony, Gates detailed what he characterized as Epstein’s efforts to pressure him using personal information. Gates said Epstein was aware that he had been unfaithful in his marriage and attempted to leverage that knowledge after their relationship ended.
Gates testified that after severing ties with Epstein in 2014, Epstein sent an email requesting “reimbursement” for expenses related to a woman with whom Gates had an affair.
“I communicated to my key person, top person at Gates Ventures, Larry Cohen, that we were never going to pay anything,” Gates told investigators.
Gates said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 through Dr Boris Nikolic, a longtime adviser and former associate. He said he believes Nikolic informed Epstein about two extramarital affairs.
Committee investigators also questioned Gates about whether he had other affairs that could have connected him to Epstein. Gates and his legal team argued there was no evidence of additional relationships and pointed to draft emails Epstein allegedly wrote to himself in 2013 containing various accusations against Gates.
According to Gates, the draft messages included what he described as false and unverified claims. He argued that if Epstein possessed damaging information about additional affairs, he likely would have included it in those writings.
“I think that Epstein, when he was writing emails to himself, took every potential negative thing he knew, and some that are completely false, and he put those into draft emails to himself,” Gates testified.
The draft emails reportedly included allegations that Epstein facilitated sexual encounters for Gates and helped him obtain medication to conceal a sexually transmitted infection from his then-wife. Gates has denied those allegations and characterized them as false.
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