Bill Gates Says Epstein Plotted Blackmail Over 3 Affairs After 2014 Split

3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Jun 23

Transcript released Tuesday shows Gates told House investigators Epstein tried to regain access after 2014 by using knowledge of at least three extramarital affairs, though no direct threat was ever sent.
Gates said adviser Boris Nikolic may have exposed the affairs and later sent “veiled” emails after Epstein helped with Nikolic’s departure from the Gates Foundation.
Two draft emails from Justice Department files appeared to Gates to be blackmail rehearsal, mixing true details about the affairs with a false suggestion that he had contracted an STD.
Gates said he met Epstein from 2011 to 2014 hoping to advance global health fundraising, then cut ties after promised billionaire connections produced only dead-end meetings.
The testimony adds detail to Congress’s Epstein probe and undercuts Gates’s judgment, even as he denied criminal conduct and said he never saw signs the women around Epstein were trafficking victims.