Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has offered his clearest response yet to his name surfacing in the latest tranche of Jeffrey Epstein documents – a sprawling, nearly three-million-page release by the US Department of Justice that has resurrected the ghosts of one of the decade’s most harrowing scandals.
Gates, 70, appeared on Australia’s 9News in a short but forceful television interview. He did not shy away.
He did not equivocate. Instead, he spoke in clipped sentences loaded with regret and distance from one of the darkest figures of the 21st century.
“Every minute I spent with him”, he said of Epstein, “I regret, and I apologise that I did that.”
The release of the documents last week has brought painful new scrutiny to the connection between Epstein – a convicted sex offender who preyed on minors – and a constellation of powerful men.
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The files include draft emails allegedly written by Epstein, unearthed from his personal archives, that claimed Gates contracted a sexually transmitted disease and discussed intricate, lurid scenarios involving women.
Gates’s attorneys and spokesperson have castigated the claims as “absolutely absurd” and “completely false.”
“These emails were never sent,” Gates told the Australian broadcaster.
“They were false. I don’t know what his thinking was. Was he trying to attack me in some way?”
Until now, no victim has accused Gates of any abuse; however, the public perception, coupled with the stark brutality of Epstein’s misconduct, has transformed every association into a significant political and cultural flashpoint.
Melinda Gates responds after Epstein Files suggest Bill Gates got an STD from “Russian girls” and planned to secretly medicate her.
NPR: “The emails in the files suggest that Bill Gates had additional affairs and that he tried to get medication to treat a sexually transmitted… pic.twitter.com/gF1jRJyRb5
— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) February 3, 2026
On Wednesday, Representative Nancy Mace called for lawmakers to press Gates further, signalling that scrutiny could extend to Capitol Hill.
“We need answers about what exactly happened and why,” Mace said, according to congressional sources.
Melinda French Gates: ‘very painful’ and about the victims
In a separate but related public moment, Melinda French Gates, Bill Gates’s ex-wife and co-founder of the Gates Foundation, spoke about the human toll of the Epstein scandal – not just on her marriage but on the countless individuals directly harmed by Epstein’s network.
Her remarks came on NPR’s Wild Card podcast.
“No girl should ever be put in the situation they were put in by Epstein,” she said.
“It’s beyond heartbreaking.”
She described a feeling of “very, very painful times” when confronted with the details of the files.
French Gates’s voice carried an emotional weight rarely heard in the debate: vivid, uncompromising, and centred on victims.
READ ALSO: Bill Gates and wife Melinda to divorce after 27 years
She evoked scenes of young girls – their innocence eclipsed, bodies violated – calling the allegations “unbelievable sadness”.
She also insisted that those named in the files must answer questions about their dealings with Epstein – a framing that shifts the focus from just Gates to a broader circle of powerful figures whose influence may have shielded them from accountability.
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