The sordid tale of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell appears to have a long reach. Now that Melinda and Bill Gates are in divorce court the relationship Mr. Gates had with Jeffrey Epstein is coming under scrutiny.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019. Ā Suicide was given as the official cause. Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested Ā in July 2020 and is awaiting trial. She has been denied bail and is in a Manhattan jail.
Some hypothesize that Melinda Gates started down the divorce track over her dismay about her husband’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
More tabloid fodder which will undoubtedly continue to make its way into the august pages of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Vanity Fair 5.10.2021
In the fall of 2019, just a couple months after Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell, theĀ New York TimesĀ ran aĀ reportĀ on the relationship between the wealthy sexual predator andĀ Bill Gates, which was more extensive than the Microsoft founder had previously acknowledged.
That September, Gates confirmed having met with Epstein, but said he ādidnāt have any business relationship or friendship with him.ā TheĀ TimesĀ report in October, though, detailed a number of meetings over the course of several years, including several at Epsteinās New York mansion, all of them after the financier was already a convicted sex offender.
āBill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein,ā a spokesperson for the philanthropist, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, told theĀ TimesĀ in 2019, āand recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so.ā
Around the time of that report,Ā Melinda GatesĀ reportedly began talking to divorce lawyers, setting off a roughly two-year separation process that culminated last week with the power coupleāsĀ announced splitāand,Ā according to theĀ Wall Street Journal, the timing was not accidental. Per theĀ Journal, Melinda Gates was āuncomfortableā with Epstein after she and her husband met with him in 2013 and expressed concerns about him. But Bill Gates and members of the Gates Foundation continued their dealings with Epstein anyway, a matter that āstill hauntsā her, according to theĀ Daily Beast, which firstĀ reportedĀ the 2013 meeting.
The extent to which the relationship between Bill Gates and Epstein weighed on the marriage is not clear. But according to theĀ Journal, it factored into the coupleās split after 27 years of marriage, which was negotiated over the course of 2020. The Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist did not comment to theĀ JournalĀ on Sunday, but a spokesperson said he stands by his initial statement about Epstein. Melinda Gates did not comment to theĀ Journal.Ā
Publicly, the couple has said little about the reasons for their separation, writing in aĀ statementĀ May 3 that āwe no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.ā The couple said they will continue to work together at their charitable foundation. Reporting in 2019 about the association between Gates and Epstein drew significant scrutiny for Gates at the time. The role it appears to have played in Bill and Melinda Gatesā divorce is sure to renew that scrutinyāand intensify it.
