The 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 10 June regarding his friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.

According to the transcript released by the committee on Tuesday, Gates spoke of “veiled” threats and said Epstein 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.

  • knife@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    wow. I guess it really worked out for gates that epstein decided to commit suicide instead of going through with exposing his powerful friends. he really lucked out.

    it’s interesting that when jeff bezos was similarly blackmailed with intel of his affair he released all the info himself like keyser soze. I guess that’s why bill gates isn’t the top robber baron anymore.