Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has apologized to the employees of his philanthropic foundation his relations. To Jeffrey Epstein, Gates told attendees of a Foundation town hall on Tuesday that mistakes he made affected the group’s work, but he denied he was involved in or had knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

While not directly confirming the apology, a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told CBS News that Gates “answered questions posed by Foundation staff on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files, the Foundation’s work in AI, and the future of global health. At the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressed many questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the billionaire’s apology on Tuesday and said it had reviewed a recording of his comments.

According to the Journal, Gates said, “Spending time with Epstein was a big mistake.” “I apologise to other people who got involved because of my mistake.”

According to the newspaper, Gates said, “I didn’t do anything illegal.” I didn’t see anything illegal.”

Gates said he first met Epstein in 2011, three years after the late financier was convicted on state charges, including soliciting the prostitution of a minor, for which he was sentenced to 18 months of detention in a minimum-security facility. According to the Journal, Gates told staff that he was aware of some “18-month-old issue” that limited Epstein’s travel but said he had not fully investigated his background.

“What I know now not only makes it a hundred times worse in terms of his crimes in the past, but it is now clear that bad behaviour was going on,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. Gates also praised his former wife and foundation co-founder Melinda French Gates, whom he said had always been “suspicious” of Epstein.

The Journal said Gates told staff he continued to meet with Epstein as far back as 2014, including flying on a private jet and spending time with him in Germany, France, New York and Washington, but he denied staying overnight at any location with Epstein or visiting the convicted sex offender’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Among the many documents related to Epstein released by the US Department of Justice, Epstein sent two emails to himself. On July 18, 2013, unverified allegations surfaced that Gates had had “extramarital sex with Russian girls”, resulting in a sexually transmitted infection that required antibiotic treatment. In an email, Epstein claimed that Gates had also sought to “secretly give antibiotics” to his then-wife, Melinda Gates.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates admitted to staff at a town hall on Tuesday that he “had affairs, including with a Russian bridge player who met me at a bridge event and with a Russian nuclear physicist whom I met during business activities.”

Bill and Melinda Gates were divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. Earlier this month, Melinda French Gates said on an NPR podcast that she felt “incredibly sad” after her ex-husband’s name came up in the Epstein files.

He said, “For me, it’s personally difficult whenever these details come out, OK? Because it brings back memories of some very painful times in my marriage.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gates also said Tuesday that his relationship with Epstein had distracted from his foundation’s philanthropic work and that he had maintained a relationship with the disgraced financier in hopes of raising money for global health.

“Epstein talked about his close relationships with many billionaires, particularly Wall Street billionaires,” Gates said, adding that Epstein was accompanied by other prominent people at these meetings, which “made it easy for me to feel that this was a normal situation.”

Gates Foundation issued a statement. Earlier this month a letter acknowledging the exchanges between foundation staff and Epstein was publicly released by the Justice Department.

“Based on Epstein’s claims that he could raise significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, certain employees of the Foundation negotiated with Epstein to secure this potential funding. Ultimately, the Foundation entered into no collaboration with Epstein, and no funds were ever made. Epstein was not paid financially by the Foundation at any time, nor was he employed by the Foundation at any time,” the foundation said in the statement, adding that he “has no right to interact with any employee. “Regretfully, Epstein either way.”