A relationship with Epstein that Bill Gates now ‘regrets’

Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail, managed to lure an astonishing array of rich, powerful and famous men into his orbit.

There were billionaires (Leslie Wexner and Leon Black), politicians (Bill Clinton and Bill Richardson), Nobel laureates (Murray Gell-Mann and Frank Wilczek) and even royals (Prince Andrew).

Few, though, compared in prestige and power to the world’s second-richest person, a brilliant and intensely private luminary: Bill Gates. And unlike many others, Gates started the relationship after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes.

Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, whose $100 billion-plus fortune has endowed the world’s largest charitable organization, has done his best to minimize his connections to Epstein. “I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him,” he told the Wall Street Journal last month.

In fact, beginning in 2011, Gates met with Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Epstein’s palatial Manhattan town house, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by the New York Times.

Employees of Gates’ foundation also paid multiple visits to Epstein’s mansion. And Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase about a proposed multibillion-dollar charitable fund — an arrangement that had the potential to generate enormous fees for Epstein.

“His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me,” Gates emailed colleagues in 2011, after his first gettogether with Epstein.

Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Gates, said he “was referring only to the unique décor of the Epstein residence — and Epstein’s habit of spontaneously bringing acquaintances in to meet

Mr. Gates.

“It was in no way meant to convey a sense of interest or approval,” she said.

Over and over, Epstein managed to cultivate close relationships with some of the world’s most powerful men. He lured them with the whiff of money and the proximity to other powerful, famous or wealthy people — so much so that many looked past his reputation for sexual misconduct. And the more people he drew into his circle, the easier it was for him to attract others.

Gates and the $51 billion Gates Foundation have championed the well-being of young girls. By the time Gates and Epstein first met, Epstein had served jail time for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was required to register as a sex offender.

Arnold said “high-profile people” had introduced Gates and Epstein and that they had met multiple times to discuss philanthropy.

“Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so,” Arnold said. “Gates recognizes that entertaining Epstein’s ideas related to philanthropy gave Epstein an undeserved platform that was at odds with Gates’ personal values and the values of his foundation.”

The first meeting

Two members of Gates’ inner circle — Boris Nikolic and Melanie Walker — were close to Epstein and at times functioned as intermediaries between the two men.

Epstein and Gates first met face to face on the evening of Jan. 31, 2011, at Epstein’s town house on the Upper East Side. They were joined by

Dr. Eva Andersson-Dubin, a former Miss Sweden whom Epstein had once dated, and her 15-yearold daughter. (Andersson-Dubin’s husband, hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin, was a friend and business associate of Epstein’s. The Dubins declined to comment.)

Gates soon saw Epstein again. At a TED conference in Long Beach, Calif., attendees spotted the two men engaged in private conversation.

Later that spring, on May 3, 2011, Gates again visited Epstein at his New York mansion, according to emails about the meeting and a photograph reviewed by the Times.

A vast charitable fund

Around that time, the Gates Foundation and JPMorgan were teaming up to create the Global Health Investment Fund. Its goal was to provide “individual and institutional investors the opportunity to finance late-stage global health technologies that have the potential to save millions of lives in low-income countries.”

As the details of the fund were being hammered out, Staley told his JPMorgan colleagues that Epstein wanted to be brought into the discussions, according to two people familiar with the talks. Epstein was an important JPMorgan customer, holding millions of dollars in accounts at the bank and referring a procession of wealthy individuals to become clients of the company.

Epstein pitched an idea for a separate charitable fund to JPMorgan officials, including Staley, and to Gates’ adviser Nikolic. He envisioned a vast fund, seeded with the Gates Foundation’s money, that would focus on health projects around the world, according to five people involved in or briefed on the talks, including current and former Gates Foundation and JPMorgan employees. In addition to the Gates money, Epstein planned to round up donations from his wealthy friends and, hopefully, from JPMorgan’s richest clients.

Epstein thought he could personally benefit. He circulated a four-page proposal that included a suggestion that he be paid 0.3 percent of whatever money he raised, according to one person who saw the proposal. If Epstein had raised $10 billion, for example, that would have amounted to

$30 million in fees.