WASHINGTON, United States, June 24, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Microsoft founder Bill 
Gates told US members of Congress that the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 
had sought to "blackmail" him over his extramarital affairs, according to a 
transcript of the testimony.

The tech pioneer testified behind closed doors before the House Oversight 
Committee on June 10 regarding his friendship with the disgraced American 
financier, who died in prison in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.

According to the transcript released by the committee Tuesday, Gates spoke of 
"veiled" threats and said the sex offender had considered exploiting his own 
knowledge of Gates's extramarital affairs to force him to remain in Epstein's 
orbit, even as Gates was distancing himself from Epstein.

"I was not blackmailed, but you know, as you look at these emails, you know, 
it looks like Mr. Epstein's brainstorming was going in that direction," Gates 
added, referring to documents from the Epstein case released in January by 
the US Department of Justice.

"He never sent me anything that I would call blackmail," Gates went on, under 
further questioning. But it appeared to Gates that through draft emails, 
Epstein "was sort of rehearsing how either he or he, coaching someone else, 
might choose to blackmail me, but none of those messages were ever sent to 
me."

Gates, 70, had released his opening remarks on the day of the testimony, in 
which he stated he had never been aware of Epstein's criminal behavior and 
had "never victimized anyone."

In late February Gates told The Wall Street Journal that his ties to Epstein 
were a major mistake and admitted to having extramarital affairs with two 
Russian women but denied any involvement with the financier's activities.

Gates claims his relationship with Epstein began in 2011, three years after 
the latter pleaded guilty to prostitution charges involving minors.

He also acknowledged that he had known of Epstein's legal troubles, but had 
also been told that Epstein was someone able to raise billions of dollars for 
global health, an issue Gates was deeply involved in.

"I knew that it (the Epstein conviction) was of a sexual nature, but, no, I 
don't think I knew -- dug into the specifics, although I probably should 
have."

The mere mention of a person's name in the Epstein dossier does not in and of 
itself imply any wrongdoing. But the documents do, at the very least, reveal 
links between the sex offender or his associates and certain public figures 
who often downplayed or even denied the existence of such ties.