Billionaire Bill Gates is to testify on June 10 before a congressional committee investigating the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Microsoft co-founder is among the prominent names appearing in documents released by the US Justice Department that revealed close friendships, illicit financial dealings and private photos with Epstein.

The source said Gates would sit for a "transcribed interview," signalling his testimony would take place in the same closed-door setting used for that of former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and senator.

Gates has admitted making a "huge mistake" in associating with Epstein, telling staff at his charity foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women but denying any involvement in the disgraced financier's crimes.

In a town hall with staff in February at the Gates Foundation, Gates expressed regret that his relationship with Epstein had affected the work of his philanthropic organisation.

In a draft email among the documents released by the Justice Department, Epstein alleged Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs, writing that his relationship with Gates ranged from "helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women."

Gates, 70, admitted at the town hall to two affairs.

"I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities," he said.

But he denied any involvement with victims of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls.

"I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit," Gates told the town hall.

The tech titan said his relationship with Epstein began in 2011, three years after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Gates said he knew of an "18-month" travel restriction on Epstein but did not check his background.

He said his then-wife Melinda expressed concerns about Epstein in 2013, but that he continued the relationship for at least another year. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong