New York : Bill Gates has taken “responsibility for his actions” over ties to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a town hall meeting with employees of the Gates Foundation. According to a statement shared with Reuters by a Foundation spokesperson, Gates “took responsibility for his actions” during a recent town hall meeting, where he addressed questions surrounding his ties to Epstein.
Gates also reportedly acknowledged that he had two affairs with Russian women, as mentioned in the Epstein Files, but clarified that those relationships were not connected to Epstein’s victims. The Microsoft co-founder’s remarks followed fresh scrutiny after details of his past interactions with Epstein resurfaced in media reports. The criticism surrounding Gates followed after the publication of US Department of Justice records and images detailing multiple meetings between Gates and Epstein.
During the internal meeting, Gates reportedly told staff that spending time with Epstein and involving senior Foundation executives in meetings with him was “a huge mistake”. Gates also sought to distance himself from any illegal conduct linked to Epstein. “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” he told employees. He further clarified that he “never spent any time with victims, the women around him”, addressing speculation about the nature of his presence at Epstein-related meetings.
Earlier this month, the Foundation said it had never made any financial payments to Epstein and had never employed him. Gates cancelled his appearance at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. He had been scheduled to speak at the high-profile event as a leading global voice on technology and philanthropy, alongside Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and other industry leaders.
Just hours before his expected address, the Gates Foundation announced that he would no longer be participating. In a statement, the Foundation said the decision was taken to ensure that attention remained on the summit’s core agenda rather than the surrounding controversy.
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