Bill Gates now claims he regrets every moment he spent with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking his silence in a new interview just days after more than three million pages of Epstein-related documents became public.
The Microsoft co-founder sat down with 9 News Australia on Wednesday to address his past relationship with Epstein—a relationship he has long sought to minimize. Gates offered what he framed as his most complete accounting yet.
"So I don't know what his thinking was there. It just reminds me, every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize that I did that."
The billionaire's remarks came just days after the massive Friday document release thrust his ties to Epstein back into the spotlight.
Gates maintained a carefully constructed narrative during the interview. He claimed his relationship with Epstein began in 2011 and ended in 2014. According to Breitbart, He insisted the connection was purely transactional—Epstein supposedly promised access to wealthy donors for Gates' global health initiatives.
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, and I was foolish to spend time with him.
A dead end. That's how Gates characterized years of meetings with a man whose criminal history was already public knowledge when those meetings began. Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008—three years before Gates claims they first met.
Gates also offered a series of specific denials:
It's factually true that I was only at dinners. I never went to the island. I never met any women.
The "island" reference needs no explanation. Epstein's private Caribbean retreat has become synonymous with his crimes. Gates wants that distinction clearly drawn.
Among the revelations in the newly released documents was a 2013 email Epstein allegedly wrote to himself. The contents, as described in reports, contain explosive claims about Gates—including allegations that Gates contracted an STD after encounters with "Russian girls" and sought to covertly slip antibiotics to his wife.
Gates addressed the email directly, dismissing it as fabrication:
Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is false.
A Gates spokesperson was more forceful:
These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false.
Gates suggested the email's existence only reinforces his regret about the association:
So, the more that comes out, the more clear it will be that — although, at the time, it was a mistake — it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.
The logic here deserves scrutiny. Gates argues that Epstein's wild, unsubstantiated claims about him prove that Gates wasn't actually involved in anything improper. But the existence of a fantastical email written by a convicted sex offender doesn't clear anyone of anything. It simply shows that Epstein kept notes—real or invented—about powerful people.
Why would Epstein write such an email to himself? Gates claims not to know. The document trove may eventually provide answers, but for now, the question lingers.
Gates positioned himself as one face in a crowd:
I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.
This framing has become standard among Epstein's former associates. The "many people" defense diffuses responsibility. Everyone made the same mistake, so no single person bears special scrutiny.
But not everyone commanded Gates' resources. Not everyone had teams of advisors who presumably conducted due diligence. Not everyone continued meeting with Epstein for three years after his 2008 conviction became public record. The "many people" included heads of state, titans of industry, and academic luminaries. The question isn't whether Gates was unique in his poor judgment—it's why so many powerful people made the same calculation.
Gates' ex-wife, Melinda, has been less forgiving of those caught in Epstein's orbit. When asked about the document release, she directed attention back to those with explaining to do:
[They] need to answer to those things.
The "they" in her statement reportedly includes her former husband. The Epstein connection was widely reported as a factor in the Gates' 2021 divorce. Melinda Gates has previously expressed discomfort with her husband's Epstein meetings.
Her latest remarks suggest she believes the public accounting remains incomplete.
More than three million pages is a staggering volume. Journalists, researchers, and investigators will spend months—perhaps years—combing through the material. The Friday release has already produced headlines. More will follow.
Gates clearly hopes his proactive interview inoculates him against future revelations. By getting ahead of the story, he controls the narrative. He's offered his denials, expressed his regrets, and drawn his lines.
Whether those lines hold depends entirely on what those three million pages contain.
Gates asks the public to believe a specific version of events: He met Epstein for philanthropic networking. He attended only dinners. He never visited the island. He never met any women. The relationship ended a full five years before Epstein's 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.
Each claim is deniable. Each claim is also unverifiable by the public without access to travel records, calendars, and witness testimony that may or may not exist in the released documents.
What we know for certain: A man with virtually unlimited resources chose to spend time with a convicted sex offender because that offender promised access to other wealthy people. The philanthropic payoff never materialized. Gates now calls it "foolish."
Foolish is forgetting your keys. Foolish is a bad investment. Repeated meetings over multiple years with Jeffrey Epstein requires a different word.
Gates' interview raises a question that extends beyond his individual case: What does accountability actually look like for the powerful?
Gates expressed regret. He apologized. He denied the worst allegations. He submitted to a television interview where he could control the framing. And then, presumably, he returned to his life as one of the world's wealthiest men, his foundations intact, his influence undiminished.
For ordinary people caught associating with criminals, consequences tend to be more concrete. Jobs are lost. Reputations are destroyed. Social circles collapse.
For billionaires, the standard appears to be different. Regret is sufficient. Apology closes the chapter. The machinery of wealth and influence absorbs the scandal and moves forward.
Melinda Gates said those in Epstein's orbit "need to answer." Her ex-husband has now answered—on his terms, in his chosen venue, with his preferred framing. Whether that answer satisfies anyone depends largely on what standard we're willing to accept.
Three million pages of documents suggest the full story hasn't been told. Bill Gates hopes his version is the final word. History suggests it won't be.