Co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who met with Jeffrey Epstein multiple times between 2011 and 2014, all after Epstein's 2008 conviction. The New York Times documented at least six meetings, mostly at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse. A May 2011 meeting was attended by Gates, Epstein, JPMorgan executive James Staley, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, and Gates science adviser Boris Nikolic.
Internal emails revealed Gates's team discussed a multibillion-dollar charitable fund with Epstein as potential co-manager. Gates flew on Epstein's private jet from Teterboro to Palm Beach on March 1, 2013. Nikolic was named as a "successor executor" in Epstein's will, though he said he was "shocked." Gates initially told the Wall Street Journal he had "no business relationship or friendship" with Epstein but later acknowledged the meetings were "an error in judgment." Melinda French Gates cited her then-husband's relationship with Epstein as a contributing factor in their 2021 divorce.
French Gates told NPR in February 2026 that the DOJ file releases filled her with "unbelievable sadness" and reminded her of the struggles she faced in her marriage. Her advisers held calls in October 2019 after the New York Times reported the extent of the meetings. DOJ files released in January 2026 included two draft emails Epstein wrote to himself in July 2013 claiming he had facilitated sexual encounters for Gates and helped him obtain medication to hide a sexually transmitted infection from his wife.
Gates denied the claims as "absolutely absurd and completely false," stating the emails were never sent and were written solely by Epstein. A March 2026 Fortune investigation reported that between 2013 and at least 2018 Epstein financially supported Mila Antonova, a Russian bridge player who reportedly had a relationship with Gates around 2010. Epstein organized her visa, wired her cash, housed her in Manhattan apartments, and paid for her coding education, later pressuring Gates through his chief of staff Larry Cohen to reimburse him, writing "Playing with fire" in an April 2018 email.
Gates's spokesperson called those claims false. A separate Fortune investigation (March 2026) documented coordination between Gates and Epstein on philanthropy, with Gates responding to Epstein's advice in ways that indicated he took it seriously. Epstein repeatedly leveraged the Gates relationship to broker charitable donations through Harvard, including contributions from Leon Black.