Bill Gates told a House Oversight Committee that Jeffrey Epstein pitched him on using “tax and will” discussions to steer money from billionaires toward the Gates Foundation’s global health initiatives. Gates said Epstein also drew on his knowledge of Gates’ p
Jeffrey Epstein didn’t just want access to Bill Gates’ name. In Gates’ telling, he wanted credibility—built through the very philanthropic networks Gates relied on.
In a nearly six-hour interview with the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Epstein’s relationships with powerful people. Gates described how Epstein presented himself as a bridge to billionaires planning where their money would go after they died. Gates said he believed the pitch was credible enough to lead to frequent meetings. even as he now regrets those decisions.
“ It was because of his purported relationship with billionaires, and because he was part of those tax and will discussions, that it seemed credible to me that he might be able to raise — or be a referral source to help raise — billions of dollars for global health,” Gates told the committee.
Gates said he had at least a dozen meetings with Epstein between 2011 and 2014. He described meeting Epstein at his Manhattan mansion, on a private jet, and over Skype. Gates said the conversations focused on raising funds for philanthropy. but he added that he regrets letting Epstein use him to improve his reputation after Epstein’s initial criminal conviction.
The committee released a transcript on Tuesday afternoon of Gates’ June 10 interview, following the committee’s work examining who had relationships with Epstein.
Epstein. who pleaded guilty in 2008 to sex offenses in Florida. died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on more severe federal sex-trafficking charges. Gates said he cooperated with a law enforcement investigation into Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. including sitting for an interview with US Virgin Islands investigators.
From philanthropy to “tax and will” pitching
Gates’ account ties Epstein’s access to a specific moment in wealthy people’s decision-making: estate planning. Gates told the committee that Epstein said he could direct clients’ money to the Gates Foundation as part of “tax and will discussions.”
“The key time when people think that through is when they’re doing their will — how much goes to their children,” Gates said. “For people who are very rich, hopefully they think of a large sum being available for philanthropy.”
Epstein had cultivated an image of financial influence, often telling people he made his money by managing the money of billionaires. After his death, his estate—reported as including his Manhattan mansion and an island in the US Virgin Islands—was valued at $630 million.
But Gates’ testimony includes a narrower view of Epstein’s actual billionaire connections. describing the only known billionaire financial clients as former L Brands CEO Les Wexner and former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black. Both men cut ties with Epstein after accusing him of acting dishonestly with their money.
The Justice Department’s Epstein files also describe Epstein trying—unsuccessfully—to persuade Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire real estate and media mogul, to hand over control of his finances to him.
Gates said Epstein went further: he used Gates to maintain ties with JPMorgan Chase. The bank had raised red flags when Epstein’s accounts withdrew large sums of cash in the years after 2008.
Emails obtained through a now-settled lawsuit by the US Virgin Islands against JPMorgan Chase say Epstein pitched two JPMorgan executives. Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes. on the idea of setting up a donor-advised fund for the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program at the bank. Gates told the committee that he discussed the donor-advised fund with Epstein, but that it was “a dead end.”.
Gates also told the committee that he was unaware of Epstein’s relationships with several individuals tied to Microsoft and its orbit. He said Epstein communicated with former Microsoft executives Steven Sinofsky and Nathan Myhrvold and former board member Reid Hoffman. while Gates said he had no knowledge of those ties.
He added that he wasn’t knowledgeable about Epstein’s relationship with Melanie Walker, a former Gates Foundation employee who Epstein frequently communicated with.
A quieter warning beneath the philanthropy pitch
Gates’ account doesn’t end with fundraising. He described a darker side to Epstein’s relationship with him—one that relied on what Epstein knew about Gates’ private life.
Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011 after an introduction by Boris Nikolic, who was a science advisor to Gates’ foundation at the time. Representatives for Nikolic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gates told Congress that Nikolic knew about Gates’ extramarital affairs with two women. Emails released by the Justice Department show that Nikolic sought Epstein’s advice on extracting a favorable exit package when Nikolic stopped working for the foundation.
Gates said Epstein knew about those two affairs and appeared to be friendly with a third woman he had an affair with. Gates told the committee that Epstein made “veiled threats” to disclose the affairs.
“He never blackmailed me, but looking at these emails, it raises a serious probability that he contemplated blackmailing me,” Gates said.
After Gates said he cut ties with Epstein in December 2014. Gates described a follow-up attempt to pull him back into the relationship. Emails show that Epstein asked Gates to reimburse him for several thousand dollars in expenses tied to one of the women Gates had an affair with. Gates said he didn’t pay it and viewed the request as “a tactic” to re-engage.
Gates told the committee: “I took that on very explicitly and said, ‘Look, if you think you’re going to get more money out of this, it’s not going to happen, and if that means you go out and talk to people about things, I will just bear the pain of that and deal with it.’”
What Gates says he learned
In his interview, Gates also apologized for allowing Epstein to use him to enhance Epstein’s image after Epstein’s initial criminal conviction.
“I see now that he sought to build an image of legitimacy around himself using connections to reputable and powerful people to deflect scrutiny and attempt to rehabilitate his reputation,” Gates said.
Gates’ testimony places the committee’s investigation at the intersection of money and influence: meetings that Gates says began with philanthropy and estate planning pitches later entangled with threats tied to personal secrets.
The House Oversight Committee’s work remains focused on Epstein’s relationships with influential people, but Gates’ account adds a specific mechanism—how Epstein tried to turn access and proximity into both fundraising pathways and reputation repair.
Bill Gates Jeffrey Epstein House Oversight Committee Gates Foundation Global Health Program donor-advised fund JPMorgan Chase Jes Staley Mary Erdoes Les Wexner Leon Black Mort Zuckerman Boris Nikolic Melanie Walker Steven Sinofsky Nathan Myhrvold Reid Hoffman
So basically rich dudes laundering credibility with charities? That tracks.
I didn’t really get it, like are they saying the Gates Foundation got used to legitimize Epstein or what? Sounds like everyone just kept meeting him and calling it “philanthropy.”
Gates said “tax and will” stuff and I’m like… that means estate planning, right? So Epstein was pitching death money into a charity? Idk, the headline makes it sound way worse than what I understand.
Six-hour interview is crazy, but I’m still stuck on how they’re phrasing it like Epstein wanted “legitimacy.” Like was he just pretending he was some lawyer/financial guy? Because I swear I heard somewhere Epstein had ties to hedge funds too, not just billionaire names. Anyway, I don’t trust Gates, and I don’t trust the committee either.