He tried to use my infidelities to pull me back in
Na primavera de 2026, Bill Gates prestou depoimento ao Congresso americano e revelou que Jeffrey Epstein tentou chantageá-lo usando informações sobre casos extraconjugais para forçar a retomada de seu relacionamento. O testemunho ocorre no contexto de uma investigação mais ampla sobre as falhas do Departamento de Justiça no caso Epstein e sobre como um homem de posses e conexões transitou por décadas nas esferas do poder sem ser detido. É um momento em que a história pede contas não apenas a indivíduos, mas às instituições e aos círculos de influência que, por omissão ou conveniência, permitiram que o mal prosperasse.
- Gates admitiu sob juramento que Epstein misturou verdades e invenções sobre sua vida pessoal para pressioná-lo, ferindo sua família no processo.
- A investigação congressional expõe falhas sistemáticas do Departamento de Justiça, desde acordos questionáveis com réus até o atraso de anos na divulgação de documentos cruciais.
- Nomes de figuras proeminentes — incluindo o ex-presidente Trump e a ex-procuradora-geral Pam Bondi — emergem nos documentos liberados, ampliando o alcance político do escândalo.
- A contratação do ex-investigador-chefe do comitê por Gates para prepará-lo ao depoimento levantou questões sobre conflitos de interesse e os limites da representação legal.
- A Fundação Gates lançou uma revisão externa de seus contatos com Epstein, enquanto o caso continua a revelar como redes de poder protegeram um traficante sexual por décadas.
Bill Gates compareceu a uma audiência fechada do Congresso americano e fez uma revelação contundente: Jeffrey Epstein havia tentado chantageá-lo. O financeiro usou informações sobre casos extraconjugais de Gates — misturando fatos e fabricações — para pressioná-lo a retomar o contato. Gates foi enfático ao afirmar que jamais testemunhou Epstein cometer qualquer crime e que seus encontros giravam em torno de discussões filantrópicas. Ainda assim, a tentativa de chantagem foi real, e deixou marcas em sua família.
O depoimento se insere numa investigação congressual mais ampla sobre como as autoridades federais conduziram o caso Epstein. O comitê presidido pelo republicano James Comer examina possíveis falhas do Departamento de Justiça, a morte de Epstein na prisão em 2019 e o atraso na liberação de documentos que poderiam ter exposto sua rede muito antes. Gates havia conhecido Epstein após a condenação do financeiro em 2008 por prostituição na Flórida — um relacionamento que o próprio Gates depois classificou como um erro, mas que, segundo documentos do DOJ, continuou mesmo após a saída de Epstein da prisão.
A audiência trouxe ainda uma questão paralela: Gates havia contratado Jake Greenberg, ex-investigador-chefe do comitê, para ajudá-lo na preparação do depoimento. Embora Greenberg já não fizesse parte da equipe do comitê quando Gates testemunhou, o arranjo suscitou dúvidas sobre conflitos de interesse. Gates não foi o único nome de peso a surgir nos documentos liberados. O ex-presidente Trump, que manteve extensa relação social com Epstein nos anos 1990 e 2000, também foi citado, assim como Pam Bondi, ex-procuradora-geral demitida por Trump em abril, criticada por sua atuação no caso quando era promotora na Flórida.
A Fundação Gates reagiu ao escândalo: em fevereiro, Gates assumiu responsabilidade perante os funcionários da instituição, e em abril foi lançada uma revisão externa dos contatos com Epstein. E-mails divulgados pelo DOJ em janeiro revelaram que Epstein também havia se comunicado com funcionários da fundação. O testemunho de Gates foi, em essência, uma tentativa de separar seu julgamento pessoal da missão institucional. Mas o caso Epstein tornou-se algo maior do que qualquer indivíduo: um espelho apontado para o poder americano, revelando como um homem com dinheiro e conexões circulou por décadas nas elites — e como essas elites foram lentas, ou relutantes, em enxergar o que estava diante delas.
Bill Gates sat for a closed-door congressional hearing this spring and made a stark admission: Jeffrey Epstein had tried to blackmail him. The financier, Gates explained to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, had weaponized information about his extramarital affairs—mixing truth with fabrication—to pressure him into rekindling their relationship. Gates was careful to draw a line. He said he never witnessed Epstein commit any crime. Their meetings, he insisted, had been about philanthropy. But the blackmail attempt itself was real, and it had wounded his family.
The hearing was part of a larger congressional reckoning with how federal authorities had handled the Epstein case. The committee, chaired by Republican James Comer, had been investigating possible failures by the Department of Justice, the conduct of prosecutors, the death of Epstein in custody in 2019, and the delayed release of documents that might have exposed his network earlier. Gates' testimony fit into that broader inquiry—he was one of many prominent figures whose name had surfaced in the millions of internal documents that the Justice Department began releasing this year, revealing the scope of Epstein's connections across politics, finance, academia, and business.
Gates had first met with Epstein in the years after the financier's 2008 guilty plea to a Florida prostitution charge, for which he served thirteen months. They had gathered multiple times to discuss expanding Gates' philanthropic work. It was a relationship Gates later called a mistake. But it was also, according to documents released by the Justice Department, one that continued even after Epstein's release from prison. Photographs emerged showing Gates alongside women whose faces had been obscured. The Microsoft co-founder had already acknowledged the error publicly, but the congressional hearing forced him to address it under oath, in detail, and with the added weight of the blackmail revelation.
The timing of Gates' testimony was notable for another reason: he had hired Jake Greenberg, the committee's former lead investigator, to help him prepare. Greenberg had left the committee's staff by the time Gates testified, according to a Reuters report, but the arrangement raised questions about the line between legal representation and potential conflicts of interest. Gates was not the only figure of prominence caught in the Epstein web. Former President Donald Trump, who had maintained an extensive social relationship with Epstein throughout the 1990s and 2000, was also named in the released documents. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Trump had fired in April, faced criticism for her handling of the case when she was Florida's top prosecutor, with some observers suggesting she had worked to shield the president from greater scrutiny.
In 2019, federal prosecutors had charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors. He had pleaded not guilty. He died in jail that year in what officials classified as a suicide, before trial. The investigation into his conduct had revealed a systematic recruitment of women and girls in vulnerable circumstances. The congressional probe was now examining not just Epstein's crimes but the federal response to them—the agreements made with defendants, the gaps in the sex trafficking investigation, the ethical questions, and the years of delay in releasing documents that might have exposed the full scope of his network.
The Gates Foundation had moved to address the fallout. In February, Gates had met with foundation staff and, according to a spokesman, "assumed responsibility for his actions." By April, the foundation had launched an external review of its contacts with Epstein. Emails released by the Justice Department in January showed that Epstein had also been in communication with foundation employees. Gates' congressional testimony was, in effect, an attempt to separate his own judgment from the foundation's mission—to acknowledge the personal failure without letting it define the institution's work. But the hearing also underscored a larger truth: the Epstein case had become a mirror held up to American power, revealing how a man with money and connections had moved through elite circles for decades, and how those circles had been slow, or reluctant, to see what was happening.
Notable Quotes
These cases had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family. Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities—along with many lies he added to the story—to pressure me to resume contact with him.— Bill Gates, in congressional testimony
Gates assumed responsibility for his actions regarding his relationship with Epstein.— Gates Foundation spokesman
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did Gates feel compelled to mention the blackmail attempt at all? He could have simply said he met Epstein about philanthropy and left it there.
Because Congress was asking directly, and lying under oath wasn't an option. But also—the blackmail is the thing that changes the story. It's not just "I made a mistake meeting with a criminal." It's "he tried to use my private life against me." That distinction matters to how people understand his judgment.
Did it work? Does that distinction actually change how we should think about his involvement?
It complicates it. On one hand, it suggests Gates was a target, not a willing participant in anything darker. On the other hand, it raises the question of why Epstein thought he had leverage in the first place—what did he know, and how did he know it? That's the part Gates doesn't fully answer.
The foundation launched a review after all this came out. Is that damage control or genuine accountability?
Probably both. The foundation has real work to do in the world, and Gates knows that work is now shadowed by his judgment. A review is the minimum institutional response. Whether it leads to actual change in how the foundation vets relationships—that's what matters, and we won't know for a while.
What about the people Epstein actually harmed? Where do they fit in this story?
They're the reason the investigation exists at all. But in a hearing about Gates' blackmail and federal failures, their voices aren't in the room. That's the gap—the testimony is about powerful men and institutions, not about the women and girls who were trafficked.