Bill Gates says he didn’t witness crimes but may have been in presence of Epstein victims

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates departs after a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2026. - Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

NEWS BLEND 360

Tue, June 23, 2026 at 8:54 PM EDT

Billionaire Bill Gates testified that he never interacted with Jeffrey Epstein's victims but admitted he might have been in their presence, according to a transcript of his private interview with the House Oversight Committee released Tuesday.

The Microsoft co-founder asserted in the voluntary interview, which occurred on Capitol Hill earlier this month, that his three-year association with the convicted sex offender was purely professional and that he never witnessed or engaged in any sexual misconduct.

However, Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia noted that the panel's investigation revealed that some of Epstein's employees were also abused by the late financier, making it challenging for Gates to completely deny being around any of Epstein's victims.

"That's a very good point," said Gates, acknowledging he saw some of Epstein's female employees at the end of a meeting on one of Epstein's planes. He added, "I may have been in the presence of victims."

As part of the oversight committee's ongoing investigation, the panel sought Gates' testimony after the release of additional Epstein files by the Justice Department this year raised questions about his connections to the late convicted sex offender. CNN has reached out to Gates for comment.

In his interview, Gates explained how Epstein attempted to leverage information about the Microsoft co-founder's personal life — including his marital infidelity — to pressure him.

After cutting ties with Epstein in 2014, Gates recalled an instance where Epstein emailed requesting "reimbursement" for expenses Epstein had covered related to a woman Gates had an affair with.

"I communicated to my key person, top person at Gates Ventures, Larry Cohen, that we were never going to pay anything," Gates testified.

Gates was introduced to Epstein in 2011 through one of his most trusted employees, Dr. Boris Nikolic, whom Gates believes informed Epstein about two of his extramarital affairs. Behind closed doors, investigators questioned Gates about other potential affairs, arguing it was relevant to determine whether Gates had any other connections to the convicted sex offender.

But Gates and his legal team resisted. The tech billionaire specifically pointed to draft emails Epstein appears to have written to himself in 2013, containing a series of graphic, unverified allegations against Gates, and argued that Epstein would have mentioned other affairs there.

"I think that Epstein, when he was writing emails to himself, included every potential negative thing he knew, and some that are completely false, and he put those into draft emails to himself," Gates said. "And so I think if in some strange way he discovered anything negative to say about me, we would have seen that in the emails that he sent to himself."

In these stream-of-consciousness notes, filled with typos and vitriol — which Gates has claimed are false — Epstein appears to allege he facilitated sexual encounters for Gates and helped him obtain medication to conceal a sexually transmitted infection from his wife.