Bill Gates says he didn’t witness crimes but may have been in presence of Epstein victims

Billionaire Bill Gates testified that he never interacted with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims but acknowledged that he might have been around them, according to a transcript of his closed-door meeting with the House Oversight Committee. launched Tuesday.

The Microsoft co-founder maintained during a voluntary interview on Capitol Hill earlier this month that his three-year relationship with the convicted sex offender was strictly professional and that he never witnessed or participated in any sexual harassment.

But Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia noted that the panel’s investigation showed that some of Epstein’s employees were also abused by the late financier, making it difficult for Gates to rule out that he was not around any of Epstein’s victims.

“That’s a very good point,” said Gates, who admitted that he saw some of Epstein’s female employees at the end of a meeting on one of Epstein’s planes. “I may have been in the presence of the victims,” he added.

As part of the oversight committee’s ongoing investigation, the panel sought testimony from Gates after the release of additional Epstein files by the Justice Department this year raised questions about his ties to the late convicted sex offender.

A spokesman for Gates said in a statement that Gates “appreciated the opportunity to appear before the House Oversight Committee.”

“As many Committee members noted, he answered every question asked of him during the nearly six-hour meeting,” the spokesman said. “Because the full, unredacted transcript is now public, anyone can review the details for themselves. As he has said throughout this process, Mr. Gates supports the release of the full files and hopes the Oversight Committee’s investigation will lead to justice for the victims.”

The panel will also be held on Tuesday. launched Epstein’s transcript long term assistantLesley Groff, who described her former boss as a “master manipulator”, said she was unaware of his crimes. Groff said that he had phone calls between Epstein and President Donald Trump, then an ordinary citizen, many times over the course of 10 years, but that he did not know the content of these conversations. Trump has long denied any wrongdoing by Epstein, as well as allegations of sexual misconduct.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Gates and Groff for comment.

Gates in his interview was put forward He described how Epstein tried to use information about the Microsoft co-founder’s personal life (including his infidelity in his marriage) to pressure him.

Gates recalled that after cutting ties with Epstein in 2014, Epstein sent an email demanding “reimbursement” for expenses he paid related to a woman with whom Gates had an affair.

“I told my key person, senior person at Gates Ventures, Larry Cohen, that we would never make any payments,” Gates said in his statement.

In 2011, Gates met with Epstein, one of his most trusted employees, Dr. Gates, who Gates believed told Epstein about his two extramarital affairs. He was introduced through Boris Nikolic. Behind closed doors, investigators pressed Gates about other possible relationships, arguing that it was relevant to determine whether Gates had any other ties to the convicted sex offender.

But Gates and his legal team backed down. The tech billionaire specifically pointed to draft emails that Epstein wrote to him in 2013, which contained a series of graphic, unverified allegations against Gates, and argued that Epstein would also mention other events there.

“I think Epstein took every potentially negative thing he knew when he was writing emails to himself, some of which were completely false, and put them into draft emails to himself,” Gates said. “And I think if she had discovered something oddly negative to say about me, we would have seen it in the emails he sent her.”

In these stream-of-consciousness notes, full of typos and harsh criticism that Gates points out are false, Epstein appears to claim that Gates facilitated sexual intercourse and helped him obtain medication to hide a sexually transmitted infection from his wife.

“I’ve never had an STD,” Gates said in a closed-door interview, but said he told Nikolic that “it was possible” and that he was concerned he might have contracted the disease, too.

After meeting with Epstein in 2011, Gates said he was aware the financier had a “criminal conviction” of a “sexual nature” but was still interested in pursuing a professional relationship with Epstein, who claimed he could raise billions of dollars for global health.

To this day, Gates says he wishes he hadn’t ignored Epstein’s bad reputation in pursuing a philanthropic opportunity that never materialized. Although Epstein tried to invite him to his island or social events, Gates said he was conscious not to cross that threshold because of Epstein’s criminal convictions.

“I regret not taking this more into account,” Gates said.

Gates also said it was “confusing” how Epstein amassed his wealth and noted that Epstein’s New York City apartment was one of the most “spacious” houses he had ever seen in Manhattan.

Gates also said he voluntarily cooperated with the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general by interviewing him and providing some financial documents, but did not specify when.

Groff, meanwhile, is one of the most prominent members of the late financier’s inner orbit to speak to Congress as part of the Epstein investigation; She’s a ubiquitous assistant who helps manage every aspect of Epstein’s life, from massage appointments to dates with women to meetings with powerful people, as evidenced in the Justice Department’s millions of Epstein files. But Groff’s denial of any knowledge of Epstein’s crime was met with immediate condemnation from survivors.

Groff told Epstein that he believed everyone he planned to give a massage to was a massage therapist, and that he viewed it as an “independent contractor type situation.”

She testified that she stopped making those massage appointments regularly in 2008, when Epstein was serving nearly a year in prison in Florida, but Democrats on the committee tried to poke holes in that claim by pointing to other appointments after 2008 that Groff had booked for Epstein.

Groff defended Epstein’s appointment even after his initial incarceration, telling lawmakers: “I didn’t know it was a massage. I don’t; you assume I thought it was a massage, but I didn’t think it was a massage.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Michael Williams contributed to this report.

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