The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2019 Melinda Gates hired a team of lawyers to discuss a divorce from philanthropist husband Bill, whose dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had drawn Melinda’s concern.
The billionaire pair announced divorce proceedings were underway last week, declaring their marriage “irretrievably broken.”
Melinda is said to have expressed unease at Bill’s relationship with Epstein since at least 2013. Her meeting with divorce lawyers in October 2019 is said to have taken place at roughly the same time as a New York Times article detailed Bill’s meetings with Epstein, which included an overnight stay at Epstein’s New York mansion.
The New York Times article detailed Epstein’s connections to several rich and powerful men.
Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The Daily Beast reports that Melinda Gates was warning her husband about associating with Epstein in 2013, that she was furious with Bill for meeting with Epstein, and that it proved to be a turning point in their marriage.
Bill Gates explained to the Wall Street Journal his relationship with Epstein:
“I met him. I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him.
“I didn’t go to New Mexico or Florida or Palm Beach or any of that. There were people around him who were saying, ‘Hey, if you want to raise money for global health and get more philanthropy, he knows a lot of rich people.’
“Every meeting where I was with him were meetings with men. I was never at any parties or anything like that. He never donated any money to anything that I know about.”
The Guardian carried this story.
