Bill Gates apologized to his foundation's staff for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, admitting it was "a hundred times worse". "Knowing what I know now, it's a hundred times worse, not only for his past crimes, but because it's now clear that his bad behavior was continuous," he told staff. "I apologize to other people who have been involved in this because of the mistake I made," Gates said at a public meeting of his foundation, according to a recording obtained by The Wall Street Journal. The co-founder said it was "a huge mistake" to spend time with Epstein and apologized for bringing Gates Foundation executives to meetings with the sex offender. Gates acknowledged having affairs with two Russian women who had contact with Epstein but who, he said, were not part of his victim network. "To be clear, I never spent time with the victims, the women who surrounded him," he added. The Microsoft co-founder declared in an interview with Nine News Australia published a few weeks ago that he met Epstein in 2011 and dined with him on several occasions, but denied visiting his private island in the Virgin Islands. In 2013, Epstein reportedly sent himself emails implying that Gates was having an extramarital affair and seeking antibiotics to treat a sexually transmitted disease to add to his then-wife Melinda's drink without her knowledge. Gates denied all the accusations and suggested that perhaps the sex offender was trying to attack him because those emails were never sent. Even so, he acknowledged that he continued to meet with him until 2014, long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor and after his wife expressed concern about his ties. Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, apologized to his foundation's staff for his ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, admitting he had "tarnished the name" of the organization, although he distanced himself from the crimes against the late magnate. "I did nothing illegal," he confessed. The co-founder assured that the images, recently published along with other documents linked to the case, in which he appears with women whose faces were covered, correspond to photos that Epstein asked him to take with his assistants after the meetings.
