Tech billionaire Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein tried to blackmail the Microsoft cofounder into a personal friendship, after Epstein learned Gates had been unfaithful in his marriage.
Gates told investigators working on the panel’s Epstein probe on Wednesday that in 2014 he cut off his relationship with Epstein, who Gates saw at the time as a connection to wealthy donors for his philanthropic work. In response, Gates said, Epstein tried to pressure him into reconnecting.
“Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies
that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him,” Gates told the panel in his opening statement, obtained by NOTUS. “He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”