Bill Gates testified before the US House Oversight Committee on June 10, 2026, that he believed Jeffrey Epstein considered blackmailing him over his extramarital affairs but never succeeded in doing so [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Gates said, "I was not blackmailed, but you know, as you look at these emails, you know, it looks like Mr Epstein’s brainstorming was going in that direction" [2]. He added Epstein "never sent me anything that I would call blackmail" [3].
Gates acknowledged having multiple extramarital relationships that contributed to his 27-year marriage ending in divorce but said they were separate from his interactions with Epstein. "These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family," he said [2, 4]. He said he confronted Epstein directly about attempts to leverage this information. "There was the veiled type of language, hey, we should all want to be friends. I took that on very explicitly and said, look, if you think you’re going to get more money out of this, it’s not going to happen," Gates said [4]. He refused to make philanthropic donations at Epstein’s request [2, 4].
Gates described Epstein as portraying himself as a fundraiser for the Gates Foundation’s global health work, relying on his connections with billionaires. "It was because of his purported relationship with billionaires, and because he was part of those tax and will discussions, that it seemed credible to me that he might be able to raise — or be a referral source to help raise — billions of dollars for global health," Gates said [6]. Gates said Epstein sought to "build an image of legitimacy around himself using connections to reputable and powerful people to deflect scrutiny and attempt to rehabilitate his reputation" [6].
Their relationship began in 2011, three years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for prostitution involving minors [3, 5]. Gates said he knew the conviction was "of a sexual nature" but never investigated further, saying, "although I probably should have" [3]. Gates has consistently said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct involving minors [2, 4, 5].
Gates, who was 70 at the time of testimony, called meeting Epstein a mistake. "I should never have met with Epstein in the first place," he said [7, 6, 5]. Over nearly six hours, Gates detailed at least a dozen meetings with Epstein between 2011 and 2014 [6].
The House Oversight Committee released the transcript of Gates’ testimony on June 23, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5]. The committee is investigating Epstein’s network and has sought testimony from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Leon Black, and others [2, 4].
