Bill Gates has taken "responsibility for his actions" over ties to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a town hall meeting with employees of the Gates Foundation.Gates⁠told staff that it was a huge "mistake" to spend time with Epstein and bringGates Foundationexecutives into meetings with the sex offender, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The report cited a recording of the comments Gates made in the town hall.

"I apologise to other people who ‌are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made," he said, according to ⁠the newspaper. The Journal added that Gates also acknowledged that he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they did not involve Epstein's victims.

"I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit," Gates told the staff, according to the report.

Documents released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have indicated that Gates and Epstein met repeatedly after Epstein's prison term to discuss expanding the Microsoft founder's philanthropic efforts. Documents released by the DOJ also included pictures of the Microsoft founder posing with women whose faces are redacted. Gates has previously said the relationship with Epstein was confined to philanthropy-related discussions.

According to the Journal, Gates told the foundation's staff that the images were ⁠pictures that Epstein asked him to take with Epstein's assistants after their meetings.

"To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around him," Gates added, according to the report.

A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told Reuters that Gates held a scheduled town hall with the employees and answered questions on a range of ⁠issues, including the release of the Epstein files. "In the town ‌hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions."

Earlier ‌this month, the billionaire also pulled out of India's AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote last week, amidst the controversy.

GetLatest NewsLive on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines fromUS Newsand around theWorld.

Ananya is a journalist with a strong grounding in breaking news and a deep-rooted passion for geopolitics. She has 6 years of experience in TV and Dig...View More

Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now