For years, questions about Bill Gates’ past, both personal and professional, have resurfaced in waves, often intersecting with the public unraveling of his marriage to Melinda French Gates. This week, the Microsoft co-founder addressed those controversies directly in front of his own staff, acknowledging extramarital affairs and again confronting scrutiny over his association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
According to a recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Gates spoke during a scheduled Feb. 24 town hall at the Gates Foundation. The billionaire philanthropist admitted to having had two affairs with Russian women while married to Melinda French Gates and addressed renewed attention tied to documents recently released by the U.S. Justice Department.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates told staff, according to the Journal’s account of the recording.
A spokesperson for Gates told People that the meeting was routine. "this was a scheduled townhall with employees, which Bill does twice a year. In the conversation, Bill answered questions submitted by foundation staff on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files, the foundation's work in AI, and the future of global health."
The spokesperson added: "In the townhall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions."
The affairs and the emails
The renewed scrutiny follows the Justice Department’s release of documents that included draft emails written by Epstein. In those drafts, Epstein accused Gates of contracting a sexually transmitted infection from “Russian girls” and asking for help concealing it from his then-wife.
A spokesperson for Gates had previously dismissed those allegations, calling them “absolutely absurd and completely false."
At the town hall, however, Gates acknowledged he had extramarital relationships. According to the Journal, he told staff the affairs involved a "Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities." He also said Epstein learned of the relationships.
The Journal previously identified the bridge player in 2023 as Mila Antonova, who reportedly met Gates around 2010 when she was in her 20s.
Gates told employees that he "never spent any time with victims, the women around [Epstein]," according to the Journal’s reporting.
“A huge mistake”
Beyond his personal conduct, Gates addressed his ties to Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. Gates said it was a "huge mistake to spend time with Epstein" after first meeting him in 2011, years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. Their interactions continued until 2014, he said, though he stated he never stayed overnight with Epstein or visited his private island.
"I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made," Gates said.
He reiterated a justification he has offered before, that his contact with Epstein was connected to philanthropy. As he said earlier this month and referenced again, "the focus was always he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end."
Gates also acknowledged that he failed to sufficiently vet Epstein’s background, saying he was aware of some “18-month thing" that had limited Epstein's travel.
“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 said, according to the Journal.
A reputational shadow
The town hall also touched on the broader fallout. Melinda French Gates, who divorced Gates in 2021, has publicly said he needed to "answer" for his connections with Epstein. During the internal meeting, Gates reportedly credited her for being "skeptical" of Epstein from the start.
He ultimately acknowledged the reputational damage to the foundation.
“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the foundation and the goals of the foundation,” Gates said. “And our work is very reputational sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”