Roma, 10 June. (askanews) – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates appeared before a congressional committee to be questioned by US parliamentarians regarding his ties to financier Jeffrey Epsteinwho committed suicide in prison in New York in 2019.
«I am pleased to be here of my own free will to testify and contribute to the work of the commission. I hope that my testimony will be useful to the commission’s work, an important work, to obtain justice for the victims,” Gates told reporters before entering the hearing room, without answering further questions.
Lawmakers will now try to understand the nature of the relationship between Gates and Epstein, a relationship that has damaged the image not only of the Microsoft co-founder but also of his Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates, the divorce from Melinda and the shadows on the past
At the end of February, the famous philanthropist, who announced his divorce from Melinda in 2021, at her request, after 27 years of marriage, declared in an exclusive television interview that his ties to Jeffrey Epstein had been a “huge mistake”, admitting to members of his foundation that having had extramarital affairs with two Russian womenbut denying any involvement in the activities of the American financier.
Epstein case, documents in the hands of the Department of Justice
A draft email from Jeffrey Epstein, published by the US Department of Justice among the mass of documents from the eponymous file, hints at extramarital affairs by Bill Gates. In this message, which appears not to have been sent, Jeffrey Epstein boasts in particular of having helped “Bill” obtain drugs to “remedy the consequences of sexual relations with Russian girls”.
The mere mention of a person’s name in the Epstein case does not a priori imply any illegal act. However, these documents demonstrate at least the existence of links between the sexual criminal or his circle and some personalities who they have often downplayed, if not outright deniedthe existence of such relationships.
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