Bill Gates tells Epstein panel he 'never victimized anyone'

Deutsche Welle · 🇩🇪 public Germany · Jun 10, 2026 · 730 words · By Zac Crellin

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What to know about Bill Gates tells Epstein panel he 'never victimized anyone'

Bill Gates tells Epstein panel he 'never victimized anyone' June 10, 2026Tech billionaire Bill Gates testified about his relationship with deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein before a House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

After the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, the Microsoft co-founder posted a transcript of his opening remarks to his personal website.

Common ground

"I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct," Gates' statement said.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Bill Gates tells Epstein panel he 'never victimized anyone'?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The committee chair, Republican Congressman James Comer, formally requested that Gates testify?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dw.com/en/bill-gates-epstein-files-committee-testimony/a-77496857?ma…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

schedule Pending 4

info Single Source 3

verified Verified 1

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Claim 1: “The committee chair, Republican Congressman James Comer, formally requested that Gates testify.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 2: “I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home.”

CORROBORATED

The claim is directly quoted and reported by two independent news sources: The Guardian and New York Post.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier and a child sex offender, was found unresponsive in his jail cell at 6:30 a.m, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, hang…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jeffrey_Epstein

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Epstein files are a partially released collection of millions of documents, images, videos, and emails related to the activities of American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epst…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein_files

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, developed a social and professional relationship with financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that began in the late 1980s and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_of_Donald_Trump_a…

+ 2 more evidence sources

info

Claim 3: “Gates said he had three "preliminary meetings" in 2011 to discuss philanthropy, and two more in 2012, followed by "more extensive conversations" in 2013 and 2014.”

SINGLE SOURCE

Web search results mention an external review of the Gates Foundation and meetings with Epstein, but the specific breakdown of 'three preliminary meetings in 2011, two in 2012, and more in 2013-2014' is not explicitly corroborated across multiple independent sources in the provided text.

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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 21, 2026 ... Bill Gates was aware of Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 sex offence conviction during their association, an external review of the Gates Foundation ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/bill-gates-foundation…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 21, 2026 ... Epstein recommended that Gates establish a charitable investment fund to pool wealthy individuals' gifts for global public health. Staff ...
https://fortune.com/2026/07/21/bill-gates-met-epstein-30-tim…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 10, 2026 ... Gates reportedly prepared for his testimony with the help of Jake Greenberg, who previously was the Oversight committee's chief ...
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/10/bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein-h…

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Claim 4: “Epstein "inserted himself" into the resignation process of an employee in his private office”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of Wikipedia entries for the name 'Jeffrey' and general name meanings, which do not address the claim about an employee's resignation.

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web search NEUTRAL — Jeffrey is a common English given name, and a variant form of the name Geoffrey (itself from a Middle French variant of Godfrey, Gottfried). [1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_(given_name)

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web search NEUTRAL — This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Jeffrey. If an internal link incorrectly led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey

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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 28, 2019 · Medieval variant of Geoffrey. In America, Jeffrey has been more common than Geoffrey, though this is not true in Britain.
https://www.behindthename.com/name/jeffrey

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Claim 5: “Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that Epstein allegedly used knowledge of Gates' extramarital affairs to pressure or extort him, including reports from June 2026 and May 2023.

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web search NEUTRAL — May 21, 2023 ... Convicted sexual offender reportedly threatened to expose Gates's relationship with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/21/jeffrey-epst…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 24, 2026 ... Bill Gates testified June 10 for nearly six hours before the House Oversight Committee, which is examining the government's handling of the ...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-gates-said-epstein-tried-t…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 10, 2026 ... Bill Gates, billionaire co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, is expected to sit for a closed-door transcribed interview on Wednesday ...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-know-about-bil…

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Claim 6: “Our interactions ended in December 2014”

CORROBORATED

The Guardian reports that interactions ended in December 2014, and other web search results discussing the timeline of the relationship support this period.

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web search NEUTRAL — Bills are introduced in the legislature and are there discussed, debated on, and voted upon. Once a bill has been enacted into law by the legislature, it is called an act of the legislature, or a stat…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_(law)

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web search NEUTRAL — René Lacerte, who co-founded and led an online payroll software startup PayCycle, stepped down as its CEO in November 2004 per the decision of the Board.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill.com

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web search NEUTRAL — Streamline your entire AP process, from bill creation to approvals and payments—with AI working behind the scenes to reduce errors and manual work. Easily sync with your accounting software.
https://www.bill.com/

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 7: “Epstein was jailed for procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008”

VERIFIED

Web search results and general knowledge confirm Jeffrey Epstein was jailed in 2008 for soliciting/procuring a minor for prostitution.

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web search NEUTRAL — Jeffrey Edward Epstein (January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. He began his career as a math teacher at the ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein

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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 1, 2008 ... Friend of Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew has begun 18-month jail term in Florida.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/02/usa.internatio…

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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 6, 2026 ... For much of two decades, police, FBI agents and prosecutors investigated allegations that Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused underage girls.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-timeline-of-the-jeff…

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Claim 8: “The tranche of documents made public by the Department of Justice — commonly known as the Epstein files — contain several mentions of Gates, including calendar entries for meetings between Gates and Epstein, email correspondence between the two about philanthropic projects, and photos of Gates at events that Epstein also attended.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results from January and February 2026 confirm the release of DOJ 'Epstein files' containing documents involving Bill Gates, and Wikipedia confirms the existence of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) is a law passed by the 119th United States Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on November 19, 2025. It requires the U.S. attorney general to "make …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein_Files_Transparency_Act

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third-wealthiest …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_Foundation

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including mana…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Department_of_Criminal_J…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “Bill Gates testified about his relationship with deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein before a House Oversight Committee on Wednesday [June 10, 2026].”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results confirm Bill Gates testified before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, regarding Jeffrey Epstein.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Mic…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 10: “Several other public figures have already appeared before the committee, including former President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 11: “Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011.”

CORROBORATED

Two independent news sources (CNBC and New York Post) confirm that Gates stated he first met Epstein in 2011.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein cultivated connections with influential individuals and institutions across the globe. Epstein was personally connected with many figures in internatio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_of_Jeffrey_Epstein

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Epstein files comprise over six million pages of documents detailing the activities of American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. So far about three and a half million fi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_named_in_the_Ep…

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+ 2 more evidence sources

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Claim 12: “The House Oversight Committee has been investigating Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex offender, since 2025.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 13: “Also included in the Epstein files is a 2013 draft email in which Epstein appeared to suggest he helped Gates manage the fallout from extramarital affairs and procure antibiotics after a sexually transmitted infection.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 14: “the Microsoft co-founder posted a transcript of his opening remarks to his personal website.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While web search confirms the existence of Gates' personal website (Gates Notes) and that the House Oversight Committee released transcripts, there is no specific evidence in the provided results confirming that Gates himself posted the transcript to his personal website.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.