Bill Gates speaks up about his questionable past

In an aired television interview with CNN journalist Anderson Cooper, the Microsoft founder admitted that spending time with the notorious convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a “huge mistake.” 

The interview on Wednesday touched up on several controversial topics, including Gate’s alleged workplace sexual misconducts at Microsoft and the future of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in collaboration with his now ex-wife. 

In 2019, The New York Times brought to light Gates’ relationship with Epstein, who pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting prostitution from several minors when Gates began meeting him. 

The two entrepreneurs met at least three times at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, according to The New York Times. Yet, Gates did not reveal to CNN if his questionable relationship with Epstein had a hand in breaking up his 27-year marriage. 

The computer programmer is now publicly voicing his regret meeting with Esptein, claiming it was for the sole purpose of bringing in donations for his foundation.  

“I had several dinners with him, hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropies for global health, through contacts that he had, might emerge. When it looked like that wasn’t a real thing, that relationship ended. But it was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there,” Gates said. 

In August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell after federal prosecutors in New York charged him for being the head of a child sex trafficking group and taking advantage of multiple underage girls. Epstein’s death was pronounced as a suicide by hanging, yet controversy still looms over his cause of death.  

Cooper brought up another scandal reported by The New York Times, which stated that his wife had concerns about his workplace behavior.  

Before reviewing Gate’s responses, here’s a recap of the billionaire’s questionable behavior throughout the years. 

In 2018, before filing for a divorce, Melinda Gates had voiced her distress about her husband’s connection with Epstein, as well as a harassment claim against the Gates’ longtime money manager, Michael Larson. 

While in another New York Times article, revelations came out regarding Bill Gates’ allegations of sexual misconduct at Microsoft, insinuating that the company head engaged in an affair with a Microsoft employee almost 20 years ago. 

“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” according to a Microsoft spokesman back at the time. 

In response, Microsoft’s board of directors issued an investigation with the help of an external law firm, according to The New York Post. 

Shockingly enough, Bill Gates’ resignation came shortly after, even though the investigation was still in the process. 

When asked if he has any regrets, Gates stumbled around during the CNN interview, but said that everyone has regrets but that he needed to “go forward” with his work. 

According to Gates, Melinda and Bill will continue to run their non-profit organization together. However, if things go south, Melinda has the option to resign her position as co-chair and focus on her own philanthropic endeavors through funding from Bill Gates.