Bill Gates has offered a remarkable new description of why he continued meeting with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein despite knowing about his criminal record. The Microsoft co-founder claimed Epstein discovered his philanthropic “weak point” by promising access to billionaires willing to fund global health initiatives. Gates acknowledged that the prospect of raising enormous sums of money persuaded him to overlook Epstein’s past.
Gates made the comments during an interview with Radio Atlantic host Hanna Rosin about artificial intelligence, philanthropy, and the Epstein controversy that continues to follow him. Rosin pressed Gates on why he failed to investigate Epstein’s reputation more carefully before interacting with him between 2011 and 2014. Gates admitted that he knew Epstein had been convicted of a sex offense but claimed he did not understand the full details.
Rosin asked whether Gates had consciously chosen to overlook Epstein’s record while pursuing his fundraising goals. Gates responded by stressing Epstein’s connections to wealthy people and his claims that he could recruit them as donors. The Microsoft co-founder described his meetings with Epstein as limited while admitting that even those interactions were a serious error in judgment.
As Breitbart News reported, Gates said the episode “underscored how foolish I was not to have better judgment, even though my intent was philanthropic.” He denied that the relationship was social and insisted that Epstein’s supposed fundraising ability was the attraction. Epstein had reportedly told Gates that his connections could produce an extraordinary amount of money for international health projects.
“He definitely had connections with billionaires, a lot of them,” Gates said during the interview. Gates then claimed Epstein “found my weak point” by suggesting he could obtain “tens of billions or 100 billions” for global health causes. Gates said that promise raised his interest enough for him to spend what he characterized as a “pretty modest number of hours” with Epstein.
Gates also attempted to explain how he had rationalized working with Epstein after the financier’s conviction. He compared the situation to the Gates Foundation’s work involving former prisoners who were attempting to reenter the workforce. “I thought the justice system had worked,” Gates said, adding that he believed Epstein had served his sentence and that using him strictly as a fundraising intermediary could be justified.
Watch Gates offer his excuse here:
"*" indicates required fields
Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state felony prostitution charge in 2008 and served 13 months in jail. Federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking of minors in 2019, but Epstein pleaded not guilty and died before the case went to trial. Gates told Congress in June that he “did not fully understand the extent” of Epstein’s crimes and denied ever witnessing criminal conduct by Epstein, according to Reuters.
Documents released by the Justice Department indicated that Gates and Epstein met repeatedly after Epstein completed his sentence. The records also included communications between Epstein and Gates Foundation personnel. Gates testified that Epstein later obtained information concerning his extramarital affairs and considered using it to pressure him into renewing contact, although Gates maintained that no successful blackmail occurred and that he never paid Epstein.
He recently told Axios that his association with Epstein ended in 2014 and was a “huge mistake.” Gates added, “I made mistakes. I’ve changed. I’m going to be careful about stuff like that.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.