Bill Gates says he never visited Epstein's Caribbean island, didn't have relations with women

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he regrets "every minute" he spent with late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

"Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise," the philanthropist told Australia's 9News in a broadcast interview on Feb. 4.

His comments came after the latest tranche of documents related to Epstein were released by the U.S. Justice Department in end-January 2026.

They contained photos and emails between Epstein and many prominent figures.

Never been to island

Gates also told 9News that he met Epstein in 2011 and had several dinners with him over three years, but never visited his Caribbean island.

Gates also said he did not have relations with women.

"The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end," Gates said.

Gates' name in two emails

Two emails that Epstein sent to himself on Jul. 18, 2013, apparently from an account that belonged to him, contained allegations that Gates had extramarital "sex with Russian girls".

The allegations also included the claim that Gates got a sexually transmitted infection that required antibiotics and he tried to hide it.

Epstein also claimed in an email that Gates sought to "surreptitiously give" the antibiotics to his then-wife Melinda French Gates.

Both emails, sent from Epstein's email account and back to the same account, were unsigned.

Moreover, no email account associated with Gates could be seen and both emails.

This has led to a number of interpretations of the content of the emails and their purpose.

The email that complained about having had to procure medicine for Gates was apparently written as a resignation letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates and his wife divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Gates responds to emails with his name inside

In response to the emails, Gates told the Australian news outlet: "That email was never sent. The email is false."

He said: "I don't know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way?"

A Gates spokesperson issued a similar denial previously.

"The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame," the spokesperson said.

Interview with Melinda Gates out a day later

Gates' interview was put out a day before the release of the full-length interview that his former wife, Melinda Gates, gave to National Public Radio (NPR) in the U.S., which is set to be out on Feb. 5.

Melinda Gates said in the interview that the document dump brought back "memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage".

"For me, it's personally hard whenever those details come up," she said.

Melinda Gates added that her ex-husband still had questions to answer over his relationship with the convicted sexual offender.

She said: "Whatever questions remain there of what — I can't even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me."

Epstein died in prison in August 2019, while facing charges in a sprawling sex trafficking case.

Names that appear in the Epstein files do not imply wrongdoing.

Individuals could have been named-dropped or have had personal ties with the late financier.

Top photo via Bill Gates Facebook