Monday, May 10, 2021

THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN QUESTION IS HANGING OVER BILL AND MELINDA GATES’ DIVORCE

 

In the fall of 2019, just a couple months after Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell, the New York Times ran a report on the relationship between the wealthy sexual predator and Bill Gates, which was more extensive than the Microsoft founder had previously acknowledged. That September, Gates confirmed having met with Epstein, but said he “didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him.” The Times report in October, though, detailed a number of meetings over the course of several years, including several at Epstein’s New York mansion, all of them after the financier was already a convicted sex offender.

“Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein,” a spokesperson for the philanthropist, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, told the Times in 2019, “and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so.”

Around the time of that report, Melinda Gates reportedly began talking to divorce lawyers, setting off a roughly two-year separation process that culminated last week with the power couple’s announced split—and, according to the Wall Street Journal, the timing was not accidental. Per the Journal, Melinda Gates was “uncomfortable” with Epstein after she and her husband met with him in 2013 and expressed concerns about him. But Bill Gates and members of the Gates Foundation continued their dealings with Epstein anyway, a matter that “still haunts” her, according to the Daily Beast, which first reported the 2013 meeting.

The extent to which the relationship between Bill Gates and Epstein weighed on the marriage is not clear. But according to the Journal, it factored into the couple’s split after 27 years of marriage, which was negotiated over the course of 2020. The Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist did not comment to the Journal on Sunday, but a spokesperson said he stands by his initial statement about Epstein. Melinda Gates did not comment to the Journal. 

Publicly, the couple has said little about the reasons for their separation, writing in a statement May 3 that “we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.” The couple said they will continue to work together at their charitable foundation. Reporting in 2019 about the association between Gates and Epstein drew significant scrutiny for Gates at the time. The role it appears to have played in Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce is sure to renew that scrutiny—and intensify it.

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