{"id":1794401,"date":"2026-02-26T11:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1794401"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:29:12","slug":"arrests-and-resignations-the-fallout-from-the-epstein-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1794401","title":{"rendered":"Arrests and resignations: the fallout from the Epstein files"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76037118_6.jpg”]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/59RSR<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Gates cancelled an appearance at an artificial intelligence summit after the recent disclosuresImage: Arun Sankar\/AFP<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Bill Gates has acknowledged making a “huge mistake” in maintaining contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, telling staff he takes\u00a0responsibility for his actions.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said Gates addressed the issue during a town hall meeting with employees, speaking candidly after the release of US Justice Department documents<\/a> related to Epstein that mentioned him.<\/p>\n

What did Bill Gates tell his employees?<\/h2>\n

According to a Wall Street Journal<\/em> report citing a recording of the meeting, Gates apologized for spending time with Epstein and for involving foundation executives in meetings with him.<\/p>\n

“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates told staff, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Gates said he had two affairs with Russian women but denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes or contact with victims, telling employees, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.”<\/p>\n

The meetings with Epstein had been to discuss philanthropy, Gates said, to raise\u00a0more\u00a0money for issues like global health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gates said his relationship with Epstein began in 2011 \u2014\u00a0three years after the late financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. The tech entrepreneur said\u00a0he knew of an “18-month thing” placing restrictions on\u00a0Epstein’s travel, but that he did not check his background.<\/p>\n

Gates said that, although his then-wife Melinda expressed concerns about Epstein in 2013,\u00a0he continued the relationship for at least another year.<\/p>\n

\n

Arrests and resignations: the fallout from the Epstein files<\/h2>\n

“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,” Gates told staff.<\/p>\n

What more do we know about Gates’ ties to Epstein?<\/h2>\n

Justice Department documents<\/a> indicate Gates and Epstein met multiple times after Epstein’s prison sentence to discuss philanthropic initiatives. Images included in the files show Gates posing with women whose identities were redacted.<\/p>\n

Gates last week cancelled an appearance at an artificial intelligence summit in India in light of the recent disclosures.<\/p>\n

A previous Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0report said that Epstein discovered that Gates had an affair with one of the Russian women and appeared to have used his knowledge to threaten the Microsoft founder.<\/p>\n

The Gates Foundation said no financial payments were ever made to Epstein and that he was never employed by the organization.<\/p>\n

Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The Gates Foundation, founded in 2000, remains one of the world’s largest funders of global health programs.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Bill Gates has acknowledged making a “huge mistake” in maintaining contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, telling staff he takes\u00a0responsibility for his actions.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said Gates addressed the issue during a town hall meeting with employees, speaking candidly after the release of US Justice Department documents<\/a> related to Epstein that mentioned him.<\/p>\n

What did Bill Gates tell his employees?<\/h2>\n

According to a Wall Street Journal<\/em> report citing a recording of the meeting, Gates apologized for spending time with Epstein and for involving foundation executives in meetings with him.<\/p>\n

“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates told staff, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Gates said he had two affairs with Russian women but denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes or contact with victims, telling employees, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.”<\/p>\n

The meetings with Epstein had been to discuss philanthropy, Gates said, to raise\u00a0more\u00a0money for issues like global health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gates said his relationship with Epstein began in 2011 \u2014\u00a0three years after the late financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. The tech entrepreneur said\u00a0he knew of an “18-month thing” placing restrictions on\u00a0Epstein’s travel, but that he did not check his background.<\/p>\n

Gates said that, although his then-wife Melinda expressed concerns about Epstein in 2013,\u00a0he continued the relationship for at least another year.<\/p>\n

\n

Arrests and resignations: the fallout from the Epstein files<\/h2>\n

“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,” Gates told staff.<\/p>\n

What more do we know about Gates’ ties to Epstein?<\/h2>\n

Justice Department documents<\/a> indicate Gates and Epstein met multiple times after Epstein’s prison sentence to discuss philanthropic initiatives. Images included in the files show Gates posing with women whose identities were redacted.<\/p>\n

Gates last week cancelled an appearance at an artificial intelligence summit in India in light of the recent disclosures.<\/p>\n

A previous Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0report said that Epstein discovered that Gates had an affair with one of the Russian women and appeared to have used his knowledge to threaten the Microsoft founder.<\/p>\n

The Gates Foundation said no financial payments were ever made to Epstein and that he was never employed by the organization.<\/p>\n

Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The Gates Foundation, founded in 2000, remains one of the world’s largest funders of global health programs.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bill Gates has acknowledged making a “huge mistake” in maintaining contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, telling staff he takes\u00a0responsibility for his actions.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said Gates addressed the issue during a town hall meeting with employees, speaking candidly after the release of US Justice Department documents<\/a> related to Epstein that mentioned him.<\/p>\n

According to a Wall Street Journal<\/em> report citing a recording of the meeting, Gates apologized for spending time with Epstein and for involving foundation executives in meetings with him.<\/p>\n

“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates told staff, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Gates said he had two affairs with Russian women but denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes or contact with victims, telling employees, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.”<\/p>\n

The meetings with Epstein had been to discuss philanthropy, Gates said, to raise\u00a0more\u00a0money for issues like global health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gates said his relationship with Epstein began in 2011 \u2014\u00a0three years after the late financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. The tech entrepreneur said\u00a0he knew of an “18-month thing” placing restrictions on\u00a0Epstein’s travel, but that he did not check his background.<\/p>\n

Gates said that, although his then-wife Melinda expressed concerns about Epstein in 2013,\u00a0he continued the relationship for at least another year.<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

“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,” Gates told staff.<\/p>\n

Justice Department documents<\/a> indicate Gates and Epstein met multiple times after Epstein’s prison sentence to discuss philanthropic initiatives. Images included in the files show Gates posing with women whose identities were redacted.<\/p>\n

Gates last week cancelled an appearance at an artificial intelligence summit in India in light of the recent disclosures.<\/p>\n

A previous Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0report said that Epstein discovered that Gates had an affair with one of the Russian women and appeared to have used his knowledge to threaten the Microsoft founder.<\/p>\n

The Gates Foundation said no financial payments were ever made to Epstein and that he was never employed by the organization.<\/p>\n

Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The Gates Foundation, founded in 2000, remains one of the world’s largest funders of global health programs.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/em><\/p>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/bill-gates-apologizes-over-ties-to-epstein\/a-76132183″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76037118_6.jpg”] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/59RSR Gates cancelled an appearance at an artificial intelligence summit after the recent disclosuresImage: Arun Sankar\/AFP Bill Gates has acknowledged making a “huge mistake” in maintaining contacts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling staff he takes\u00a0responsibility for his actions. A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said Gates addressed the issue during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-1794401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1794401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1794401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1794401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1794401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}