Epstein Data Wiki

Bill Gates

Properties2
tagsperson, philanthropy, microsoft, gates-foundation, congressional-testimony
aliasesWilliam H. Gates III, William Henry Gates III, Bill Gates

17 min read

BornOctober 28, 19551
RolesCo-founder of Microsoft, 1975; chairman until February 2014; co-founder and chair of the Gates Foundation, established 20001
Contact with EpsteinMeetings and correspondence documented from January 2011 to December 201423
Congressional recordTranscribed interview, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 202645

William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is the co-founder of Microsoft and co-founder and chair of the Gates Foundation.1 Emails and schedules released by the Justice Department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act record meetings, dinners, telephone and Skype calls and a two-way email correspondence between Gates and Jeffrey Epstein between January 2011 and late 2014, including dinners and meetings at Epstein’s Manhattan residence at 9 East 71st Street.678910111213 The correspondence concerns philanthropic funding structures, in particular donor-advised funds, and introductions to people Epstein described as prospective donors to global health.141215 In a transcribed interview with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on June 10, 2026, Gates said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 in the expectation that Epstein could raise money for global health, that the effort produced nothing, that the association was “a grave error in judgment,” and that he never witnessed or had any indication of criminal conduct by Epstein.2316 The Committee entered into the record two documents from 2013 in which Epstein drafted, in the voice of a departing Gates adviser, a statement addressed to Gates that made claims about Gates’s private conduct: one Epstein sent to his own address, the other he sent to Boris Nikolic.17181920 Gates told the Committee he had not seen either before the Justice Department released them, that they contained “some truth and some false things,” that they were never sent to him, and that he was not blackmailed.2021

First meetings, 2011

On Friday, January 28, 2011, a member of Epstein’s household staff wrote to a colleague: “Bill Gates and Boris Nikolic is coming for dinner at 71st this Monday and Tuesday night.. both nights! JE asked if you could take off work to help work the dinner.. it is only 3-4 people, but he would like you there..”6 Epstein’s executive assistant Lesley Groff circulated the schedule for that week on the evening of Monday, January 31, listing “7:30 DINNER WITH BILL GATES AND BORIS NIKOLIC” that night and, for Tuesday February 1, “8:00 Dinner w/Bill Gates, Boris Nikolic and Peter Mandelson.”7 Asked about the two-night entry, Gates told the Committee he had not met Epstein on two consecutive nights in January and that the January 31 dinner was attended by himself, Boris Nikolic and Epstein.22 Gates told the Committee that Boris Nikolic had worked at the Gates Foundation before moving to his private office, then called bgC3 and later Gates Ventures, where his title was science adviser from about 2010 until the end of 2013.23

Groff’s schedule for Monday, May 2, 2011 lists “9:00pm Dinner w/Bill Gates and Larry Summers and Jes Staley,” with cell numbers and the assistants of the two other guests noted alongside; the numbers are redacted in the released image.824 On the evening of April 29 a staff member wrote to Groff: “JE just told me that Bill Gates will have eaten already when he comes to see JE on tuesday night. He now just wants it to be coffee and snacks. like tea snacks and cake.. something like that. Can you pls let Jes and Larry know that it won’t be a full on dinner so they don’t arrive hungry?”25 The two schedules circulated that week place the dinner on Monday, May 2.824 Gates told the Committee that at dinners where Jes Staley or Larry Summers were present the conversation ranged beyond philanthropy.26

2012 and 2013

Gates told the Committee he saw Epstein twice in the autumn of 2012, once at the Four Seasons hotel in New York and once at Epstein’s residence during the week of the United Nations General Assembly, and that the second meeting was the first time he met Terje Rød-Larsen and the former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland.2728 Epstein’s schedule for Wednesday, February 27, 2013 records “2-3:30 Bill Gates at Four Seasons” followed by “10:15 Bill Gates again.”29 The schedule circulated for Friday, March 1, 2013 records “1:00pm LUNCH w/Bill Gates and Woody Allen (WHERE IS THE LUNCH?) Will this happen?” and, immediately below, “TBD MAYBE FLY TO PB TODAY/TONIGHT, BILL GATES TO FLY WITH YOU MAYBE????”30 Gates told the Committee the lunch never took place and that he had never met the film director, but that he did fly with Epstein to Palm Beach on March 1 or 2, on a private aircraft other than Epstein’s Boeing 727, on his way to another destination in Florida; he said it was the only time he flew on an aircraft with Epstein and that he never went to Epstein’s Palm Beach house.3132

On May 15, 2013 Epstein wrote to a Gulf business contact that “Bill gates will be with me in Paris on the 9 and 10,” and invited him to join.33 Gates told the Committee that in 2013 he spent an afternoon of a few hours at a place he understood Epstein owned in Paris, that the substantive discussion was about raising money philanthropically, and that Nikolic was, as he recalled, present.34 In an email to Gates dated January 13, 2019 Epstein wrote: “dec 3 rd 2013, in wash,dc meeting at airport. . larry said you have no recollection?? or at least he was not aware of your request and our conversations . odd ,”35 Shown the email, Gates said he did think he had met Epstein at the National Airport fixed-base operator on that date, for a fairly brief conversation about the philanthropic work, and that he had stopped reading email from Epstein by 2019.36

The donor-advised fund discussions, 2013–2014

Epstein circulated articles and proposals about charitable giving structures to Gates and Nikolic, and Gates replied.111437 On January 1, 2014 Epstein sent Gates and Nikolic a Washington Post link under the subject “mark had no better place”; on January 5 Gates replied to Epstein, copying Nikolic and Larry Cohen of Gates’s private office: “The Community Foundation is just like a DAF for Mark — he gets the tax benefit now in a more generous form and he is not subject to 5% minimum giving and he still controls the funds.”1114 He continued: “They key thing we are talking about as I understand it is an easy way for people to give to high impact causes where we structure things for them. This is becoming clearer to me. We would have about 4 poor world health things, 1 poor world agriculture thing and 2 US education things that people could direct money to.”14 Four minutes later Gates sent a second reply, on a different subject, closing a wager: “I will certainly pay you the dollar next time I see you.”38 Epstein’s schedule for Tuesday, January 28, 2014 records “12:30pm EST Skype Call w/Bill Gates (JE organized with Larry Cohen,” followed by a redacted contact detail.9

On February 1, 2014 Epstein wrote to Gates that “One of the techie wealth holders suggested my version of the DAF , was in his mind like cloud computing for the giving world.”37 Gates replied the same evening: “It is a good analogy. / It is clearer to me now than before and it could be a great thing. / This week is a bit crazy with Strategy reviews and Microsoft stuff but after it I will get to see if anyone at the Foundation sees any issues with sitting down with some people and asking if they would be interested.”37 Some hours later Epstein composed an email to his own address reproducing the message with alterations: the opening line reads “Jeffrey , your idea is brilliant,” and the third paragraph reads “any issues with me sitting down with your people .”39 Counsel for Gates identified this pair of documents on the record as an instance in which Epstein drafted an email to himself purporting to memorialise something Gates had said “and changing significantly the substance of it.”40

On April 14, 2014 Epstein wrote to Gates: “IMF meetings were filled with people concerned that the Euro was getting too strong. … many approached on forming digital currencies. ( aid only type for example ) . you and I should speak re DAF, and next step. it appears your group is trying to re-invent the wheel. / boris s deal troubled. hope you are enjoying your vacation.”12 Gates told the Committee that Epstein’s representation that he could raise billions for global health became a significant subject of discussion during 2013, and that he took Epstein at his word until about September 2014.41

The September 2014 meetings

Epstein’s schedule for Thursday, September 4, 2014 records “2:00pm Phone date w/Bill Gates,” and his schedule for Monday, September 8 in New York records “10:00-2:00pm Appt w/Bill Gates.”1013 On September 4 Epstein wrote to the property and media proprietor Mortimer Zuckerman: “want to spend some quality time with bill gates and me , monday afternoon:?”; Zuckerman’s assistant replied the same evening asking what time he should come.42 A Google Calendar reminder for that Monday records “2:00pm Mort Zuckerman to meet you at 71st w/Bill Gates,” timed 2 pm to 3 pm, and a second reminder records “3-3:30pm Meet Kathy Ruemmler at the Four Seasons w/Bill Gates.”4344 A further calendar entry for Friday, September 5 asks: “can Tom Pritzker meet you and Bill Gates at 10am at Four Seasons hotel?”45

Shown these entries, Gates told the Committee that Epstein had assembled the series after Gates pressed him to identify the people who would actually give, that he met Tom Pritzker, then, at the Apollo offices, Leon Black and Josh Harris, and Zuckerman, and that none of them was close to committing substantial sums to global health: “it was a complete disappointment from my point of view, even though it was all very friendly.”154647 He said the meeting with Kathy Ruemmler was of a different nature and not about a prospective donation, and that he did not meet Larry Summers that day.4849 He told the Committee that after this series he concluded Epstein would never deliver, told him the discussions would go no further, and that contact ended in December 2014.3

Epstein’s self-addressed drafts, and Gates’s response

On July 18, 2013 Epstein sent an email to his own address, subject “bill,” written in the first person in the voice of a departing Gates adviser and containing allegations about Gates’s private conduct and about things the writer had been asked to do.17 On June 16, 2013 Epstein sent Nikolic a further draft of the same kind, which the Committee entered as its first exhibit; it, too, is written in the adviser’s voice and addressed to Gates.181920 Both were released by the Justice Department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.19

Gates told the Committee he had not seen either document before the Justice Department released it.20 Asked whether Epstein had attempted to blackmail him, he said: “If those emails that contained some truth and some false things were ever sent, then we could say there was an attempt at blackmail. That never happened.” He added that he did not know whether Nikolic had ever seen them.21 He said Epstein never sent him anything he would call blackmail, but that reading the drafts “raises a serious probability that he contemplated blackmailing me.”50 In his opening statement Gates said that Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about his personal life, including that he had been unfaithful in his marriage, and that “Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities, in addition to many lies that he layered on top, to pressure me to reengage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort.”3

Gates told the Committee that Epstein had sought donations to be made in his name to a list of entities, that he never made a donation in Epstein’s name, and that he made a $2 million donation to MIT, an institution he said he had given to for decades, during the period he knew Epstein, telling Epstein about it in the hope that it would stop the requests.51 He said MIT investigated and established that the donation was not Epstein-related.52

Statements

From Gates’s opening statement to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026:4

  • “At the outset, I want to state very clearly I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone.”2
  • “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place.”3
  • “Meeting with Epstein was a grave error in judgment and put this work at risk. … If the time I spent with Epstein lent him credibility, I am deeply sorry.”16

Asked later in the interview to expand on calling the association a mistake, Gates said: “It was a mistake to spend time with him because, in the end, it led to nothing. … It was a mistake because of his prior conviction. … This is one of the larger mistakes I’ve made was to risk my reputation and the reputation of the foundation by engaging in these meetings.”53

Asked about Epstein’s properties, Gates said he had been invited to Little Saint James on several occasions and never accepted, and that his contact with Epstein consisted of “several meetings at his New York residence, and the one meeting in Paris, and then the one time we flew together on a plane from New York to Palm Beach.”5455 He said he never visited Zorro Ranch or the Palm Beach house.55

Gates Foundation contacts

A schedule entry for Friday, November 18, 2011 records a 4:45 pm appointment for Epstein with two members of the Gates Foundation’s staff.56

Coverage

  • New York Times, October 12, 2019, reporting on Gates’s meetings with Epstein.
  • Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2026, “The Hidden Figure With Close Ties to Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein,” entered as a minority exhibit in the June 10, 2026 interview.57
  • Time, June 10, 2026, “Bill Gates Gives Interview in the House Epstein Probe. Here’s What to Know About His Ties to Epstein.”58

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia, “Bill Gates.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.9. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.10. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, cover page. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2

  5. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, “Oversight Committee Releases Gates and Groff Transcripts,” June 23, 2026. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-gates-and-groff-transcripts/ ↩

  6. Email between Epstein household staff, January 28, 2011. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00560722 ↩ ↩2

  7. Lesley Groff, schedule email, January 31, 2011. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01797988 ↩ ↩2

  8. Lesley Groff, schedule email, April 29, 2011, listing Monday May 2. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02032435 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Lesley Groff, schedule email, January 28, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01939936 ↩ ↩2

  10. Schedule email, September 4, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02098072 ↩ ↩2

  11. Email, Epstein to Gates and Boris Nikolic, January 1, 2014, reproduced in the reply thread. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01939801 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Email, Epstein to Gates, April 14, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01927861 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Schedule email, September 2, 2014, listing Monday September 8, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02098640 ↩ ↩2

  14. Email, Gates to Epstein, copying Boris Nikolic and Larry Cohen, January 5, 2014, replying to Epstein’s email of January 1, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01939801 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.97. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2

  16. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.11. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2

  17. Email, Epstein to his own address, July 18, 2013. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01966988 ↩ ↩2

  18. Email, Epstein to Boris Nikolic, June 16, 2013, entered as Gates majority exhibit 1. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00873874 ↩ ↩2

  19. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.24. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  20. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.25. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  21. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, pp.93–94. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2

  22. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.45. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  23. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.22. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  24. A second circulation of the same day’s schedule, April 28, 2011. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02021293 ↩ ↩2

  25. Email to Lesley Groff, April 29, 2011. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02188966 ↩

  26. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.94. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  27. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.47. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  28. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.48. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  29. Lesley Groff, schedule email, February 27, 2013. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01763913 ↩

  30. Lesley Groff, schedule email, February 27, 2013, for Friday March 1. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA00394711 ↩

  31. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.52. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  32. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.53. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  33. Email, Epstein to a business contact in Qatar, May 15, 2013. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01975845 ↩

  34. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.54. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  35. Email, Epstein to Gates, January 13, 2019. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01008648 A second copy, bearing the Bates number EFTA_R1_01795558 cited in the Committee interview as minority exhibit G, is at https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02605231 ↩

  36. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.101. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  37. Email thread, Epstein to Gates February 1, 2014 and Gates’s reply the same evening. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01936299 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  38. Email, Gates to Epstein, January 5, 2014, 6:12 pm, replying to Epstein’s email of December 31, 2013. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01939941 ↩

  39. Email, Epstein to his own address, February 2, 2014, 2:04 am. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA01936283 ↩

  40. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.39. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  41. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.49. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  42. Email thread, Epstein to Mortimer Zuckerman, September 4, 2014, forwarded September 5. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02098356 ↩

  43. Google Calendar reminder, September 8, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02098410 ↩

  44. Google Calendar reminder, September 8, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02098691 ↩

  45. Google Calendar reminder, September 5, 2014. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02097687 ↩

  46. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.98. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  47. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.99. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  48. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, pp.97, 99. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  49. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.100. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  50. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.110. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  51. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, pp.92–93. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  52. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.93. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  53. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, pp.58–59. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  54. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, pp.45–46. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  55. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.125. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩ ↩2

  56. Schedule email, November 18, 2011. https://epstein-data.com/EFTA02012610 ↩

  57. Interview of William H. Gates, III, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 10, 2026, p.41. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Bill-Gates-Transcript.pdf ↩

  58. Time, June 10, 2026. https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein-house-oversight-committee-congress/ ↩

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