Bill Gates is heading to Capitol Hill for scrutiny that has shadowed some of the world’s most prominent figures: his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier whose web of wealthy associates has long drawn intense public interest and fueled conspiracy theories.
The Microsoft co-founder, one of the world’s richest men and a major philanthropist, is scheduled to sit for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee focused on Epstein.
Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.
The committee requested Mr Gates’s appearance after Justice Department document releases raised fresh questions about the nature and extent of his contacts with Epstein.
Other well-known names have already come before the panel, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019
A spokesperson for Mr Gates said he welcomed the opportunity to speak with investigators and stressed that he had “never witnessed or participated in Epstein’s illegal conduct”.
Among the materials in the Epstein files is a 2013 draft email in which Epstein appeared to claim he helped Mr Gates deal with the fallout from extramarital affairs, including seeking antibiotics after a sexually transmitted infection.
Mr Gates has dismissed that email as fake and has denied the accusations.
In a February interview on Australian television, Mr Gates said he was “foolish” to have associated with Epstein, while insisting the relationship was unrelated to the financier’s criminal conduct.
He said: “Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise that I did that… It’s factually true that I was only at dinners.
“I never went to (his) island, I never met any women.”
Merely being named in Epstein-related documents does not, by itself, amount to evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Gates told staff at his foundation he had affairs with two Russian women, while he has denied spending time with Epstein’s victims.
Mr Gates has said his connection to Epstein began in 2011 — three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The House Oversight Committee has been investigating Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell
Mr Gates has reportedly acknowledged that his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, raised concerns about Epstein in 2013, but that he maintained the relationship for at least another year.
Ms Gates, who divorced the Microsoft co-founder in 2021, has said any unresolved questions about the relationship should be answered by her former husband and others.
The House Oversight Committee’s work on Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is part of a broader inquiry into how the government handled the case and what it has made public from its files.
US President Donald Trump, who also had a years-long relationship with Epstein, initially opposed releasing the files, sparking coverup accusations that lingered through his first year back in office.
Democrats say they plan to press Mr Gates on what he knew about Epstein’s crimes and to clarify the full scope of their relationship.
Unlike several committee interviews that have been made public, this one will not be videotaped.
US media reported Mr Gates hired former Justice Department lawyer John Moran and received preparation from Jake Greenberg, a former top Oversight Committee investigator — a step that ethics experts said raised questions about optics but did not necessarily break any rules.
