Microsoft founder Bill Gates says he regrets ever meeting with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to discuss philanthropy, according to a new report.
“I wish I hadn’t met with him,” Gates told Axios on Monday.
Epstein arranged at least $7.5 million in donations to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2014, which included $2 million from Gates and $5.5 million from investor Leon Black, according to emails obtained by The New Yorker.
“I won’t say I knew him that well, because he was introduced to me as somebody who could bring more people into philanthropy,” Gates said. “There were meetings along those lines. That didn’t materialize, and so then I stopped meeting with him.”
“I’d say I didn’t have a … business or personal relationship — I wouldn’t go that far,” he stated.
Gates gave $2 million to MIT’s Media Lab, then under the direction of Joichi Ito, for “continued research,” according to 2014 letter obtained by Axios. – READ MORE