Bill Gates Finally Admits How Jeffrey Epstein Turned Him With Charity Instinct Excuse

Bill Gates told his own foundation staff his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was just a huge mistake.

Now, on a new podcast, Gates has finally admitted exactly why he let Epstein into his world.

Gates just confessed on tape the exact weakness Epstein weaponized to buy his way into his life.

Gates Says Epstein Dangled Billions for Global Health to Get Close

Gates sat down with The Atlantic this week and said the quiet part out loud.

"He definitely had connections with billionaires, a lot of them," Gates said.

"And, you know, in a sense, you could say he found my weak point," he continued.

Gates said that weak point was his own hunger for philanthropic cash.

"That by saying he could get tens of billions or 100 billions that would be donated to global health causes, that raised my interest," Gates said.

A convicted sex offender told one of the richest men on the planet he could deliver nine-figure checks for global health, and Gates took the bait.

"It just underscored how foolish I was not to have better judgment, even though my intent was philanthropic," Gates admitted.

He insisted the relationship never went further than business.

"There was never any social thing," Gates said. "I never went to the island. I was never introduced to any women."

That story spans roughly three years starting in 2011, with Gates flying on Epstein's jet and showing up at his Manhattan townhouse more than once.

Gates also told the House Oversight Committee in June that Epstein found out about his affair and tried to turn it against him.

"He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda," Gates testified.

Epstein Ran the Same Con on Billionaires Long Before Gates

Gates was not the first mogul Epstein turned philanthropy into a master key.

Retail billionaire Les Wexner handed Epstein full power of attorney back in 1991, letting him sign checks, hire staff, and buy property in Wexner's name.

By the early 1990s, Epstein was a trustee of the Wexner Foundation, a title that opened doors to global donors and heads of state.

Wexner sold his own Manhattan townhouse to Epstein in a 1998 deal backed by a $10 million promissory note, the same building Epstein used for years to entertain the powerful.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was introduced to Epstein by ex-Israeli statesman Shimon Peres in 2003, and that same Wexner Foundation later paid Barak roughly $2.3 million for research work.

The playbook worked on prime ministers, not just moguls.

Author Michael Wolff's manuscript on Epstein describes him positioning himself as a "key advisor" to Gates.

Epstein pitched using "the resources of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to accommodate many other fortunes," according to Wolff's account.

Translation: Epstein wanted Gates's checkbook to become a recruiting tool for even more billionaires.

Elon Musk has thrown Gates's Epstein ties back in his face before.

Musk said he wouldn't trust Gates "to babysit my kids," and asked why anyone should take child welfare lectures from a man with Gates's own history around Epstein.

Musk left out that he attended a billionaire dinner with Epstein himself in 2015, a fact that didn't stop the punch from landing.

Gates Wants Credit for Honesty He Avoided for Years

Gates wants you to believe he's the mark in this story, a data-driven genius who got played by a con man with a good pitch.

Maybe.

But that excuse gets thinner every time he repeats it.

This is one of the richest men who ever lived, a guy who built his whole reputation on due diligence, and his story is that a felon talked him into years of private meetings and a seat inside his home with nothing more than a promise of "tens of billions."

Wexner fell for a version of the same pitch two decades earlier, and it cost him control of his own finances.

Gates is rolling out this "weak point" story right as he launches a new push on artificial intelligence that needs the public to trust his judgment, and that timing is not an accident.

Every billionaire who orbited Epstein has a version of this story ready for when the cameras show up, and Gates just handed you his.

Congress and the DOJ are still releasing Epstein files, and every fresh batch has forced another billionaire to explain himself on camera.

Gates got out ahead of the next document dump with a sympathetic story about a manipulative ex-con, and that's not an accident either.

Sources:

• Breitbart News, "Bill Gates Claims Jeffrey Epstein Exploited His Philanthropic 'Weak Point,'" Breitbart, August 27, 2026.
• LifeZette Staff, "Bill Gates Tries to Do More Epstein Damage Control: 'He Was an Ex-Con Who Could Get Me Billions,'" LifeZette, August 27, 2026.
• Daily Wire Staff, "Elon Musk Rips Bill Gates Over Epstein Ties: 'Wouldn't Trust That Guy To Babysit My Kids,'" Daily Wire, May 20, 2025.
• Fox News, "Bill Gates Claims Jeffrey Epstein Weaponized Knowledge of His Affairs," Fox News, June 10, 2026.
• Al Jazeera Staff, "Les Wexner: How the Billionaire Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Rise," Al Jazeera, February 19, 2026.
• Byline Times Staff, "Jeffrey Epstein Met Privately With Bill Gates and Peter Thiel to 'Rebuild His Reputation' Through Philanthropy," Byline Times, February 11, 2026.