Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates began being questioned on Wednesday morning by a House committee behind closed doors about his controversial friendship with the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” Gates told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in his opening statement, according to a copy of it that he posted online.
“Based on what I know now, I understand that even if he had delivered the new donors he promised” to the Gates Foundation, “it would not have justified associating with him,” Gates said.
Gates also said in the statement, “At the outset, I want to state very clearly: I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.”
“I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone,” Gates said.
“While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated.;
Gates, earlier on Wednesday, told reporters as he arrived, “I hope my testimony is helpful to the important work of the committee to find justice for the victims.”
A spokesperson for Gates, in a statement emailed to CNBC, said, “Gates welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee. While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work.”
The mega-billionaire is one of the biggest names to submit to a grilling by the committee, which for months has investigated Epstein’s network of high-profile friends.
Gates’ testimony comes a day after the committee questioned Epstein’s former longtime executive assistant, Lesley Groff.
A transcript of his testimony is expected to be released in the next several days.
Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the committee, told reporters Tuesday that “anything’s on the table” in terms of questions for Gates. “He seems like he’s — according to his attorneys — I wouldn’t say eager to testify, but he’s willing to testify, and he hasn’t fought it. And I appreciate that.”
Gates became friends with Epstein in 2011, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates arrives for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2026.
Kent Nishimura | Afp | Getty Images
That was three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Epstein served 13 months in jail in that case.
He died from a jailhouse suicide in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on federal child sex trafficking charges.
The friendship between Gates and Epstein received renewed attention in late 2025 with the release of documents about Epstein and his associates by the Department of Justice and Congress.
Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
CNBC has requested comment from the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Gates, about his testimony.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Gates was preparing for his testimony with the help of Jake Greenberg, who until December was the oversight committee’s chief investigations counsel.
CNBC has requested comment from Greenberg.
In February, Gates apologized to staff at a Gates Foundation town hall for his association with Epstein, and admitted he had affairs with two Russian women, according to The Wall Street Journal, which noted that Epstein had become aware of the affairs.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates said during that mea culpa session, according to the Journal.
But Gates also reportedly said at the event that “it was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein” and bring foundation executives into meetings with Epstein.
“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates reportedly said.
The Gates Foundation previously announced it had commissioned an external review of the philanthropy’s past ties with Epstein. The foundation said it expected that its board and management would receive an update about the review this summer.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, a longtime friend of Gates, told CNBC’s Becky Quick in late March that he had not spoken to the Microsoft co-founder “since the whole thing” with the Epstein files “was unveiled.”
“I don’t want to be in a position where I know things … to be called as a witness,” Buffett said. “I think until it gets cleared up, it doesn’t make sense to do a lot of talking.”
Buffett called Epstein a con man who exploited the weaknesses of other people.
“Men are going to like sex … and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and he figured out their weaknesses,” Buffett said.
Buffett has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation since 2006.
— Karen James Sloan contributed to this report.