A new external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation has found that there were “roughly 30 meetings” between Jeffrey Epstein and foundation leaders and staff – including Bill Gates – between 2011 and 2014, even as foundation staff “raised on multiple occasions the risks of associating with Epstein because of his prior conviction”.
The Gates foundation commissioned the review in March, following the justice department’s release earlier this year of millions of documents related to Epstein. The files included numerous references to Gates, several photographs of him, and records showing that he met with Epstein on multiple occasions, which prompted renewed scrutiny of Gates’s past ties to the disgraced financier.
The foundation also said earlier this year that it was aware of emails in the Epstein files “between Jeffrey Epstein and Gates Foundation staff”. The foundation said, at the time, that it “regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way” and retained the law firm WilmerHale to conduct a review of the foundation’s past engagements with Epstein.
The report, of which a summary was released on Tuesday, took about five months. It was based on more than 50 interviews with current and former foundation personnel, including Gates, and reviewed extensive written materials relevant to the review, the law firm said.
“WilmerHale found no evidence of participation in or knowledge of Epstein’s ongoing sex trafficking operations or criminal activities,” the summary of the report states. “WilmerHale found no evidence that the foundation was contemporaneously aware of Epstein’s use of the foundation’s name to help advance his conduct. WilmerHale also found no evidence that Epstein was paid by the foundation.”
Gates, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, has publicly expressed regret over his past association with Epstein. He apologized to foundation employees during a February town-hall meeting for his past ties to Epstein, the Wall Street Journal reported. In June, he testified in front of the House committee on oversight and reform and told lawmakers that he “never witnessed nor had any indication” that Epstein was “engaged in ongoing criminal conduct”.
