Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on Wednesday that he made a "grave miscalculation" when he met with the late convicted sex financier, Jeffrey Epstein, but denied any wrongdoing.

Gates said during an hours-long closed-door hearing to members of the U.S. Congress about the nature of his relationship with Epstein that "he should never have met with Epstein in the first place."

Gates added that he "never testified, and had no indication, that Epstein was involved in ongoing criminal behavior." Gates became the latest influential figure associated with Epstein to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

The committee's chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer, formally asked Gates to testify after his name appeared several times in a trove of documents released by the Justice Department as part of the Epstein investigation.

Upon arriving at the Capitol, Gates noted that his appearance before the committee was voluntary, and expressed hope that his testimony would help lawmakers "deliver justice for the victims."

Gates, the president of the Gates Foundation, has not been accused of any connection to Epstein's crimes, and has repeatedly denied knowing of any abuse Epstein committed against underage girls, stressing that his meetings with Epstein were limited to discussing charity, and previously described the relationship as a "grave mistake."

US lawmakers: Gates made a big mistake

Most of the Democrats who participated in the interrogation described Gates as a collaborator, noting that some of the most useful information he provided related to other influential people who were in Epstein's circle.

Lawmakers also said they pressed Gates to find out why he continued to communicate with Epstein after his guilty plea in 2008.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee's most prominent Democrat, said Gates was aware that Epstein had been convicted of a "heinous crime, yet he continued to reach out to him for funding for his charity," and Garcia called Gates' decision to continue reaching out to Epstein as a "grave miscalculation."

German investigation reveals new scandals

A joint investigative investigation led by three prominent German media outlets, the public networks NDR and WDR and the newspaper Südeutsche Zeitung, has identified at least 19 European women believed to have been victims of sex crimes committed by the late American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

According to the report published by the German Channel 1 website Tagesschau on June 2, 2026, these investigations were based on an in-depth analysis of official files unveiled by the US Department of Justice, along with a package of other documents.

The results showed that the plan was mainly based on luring young women and nurturing their ambitions for a promising career in the world of fashion and fashion. Available evidence suggests that at least five people worked for Epstein on the European continent under the guise of a job as "talent scouts", recruiting girls, some of whom later became victims of his sexual assaults.