The Microsoft founder Bill Gates told US members of Congress that the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had sought to “blackmail” him over his extramarital affairs, according to a transcript of the testimony.

The tech pioneer testified behind closed doors before the House oversight committee on 10 June regarding his friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.

According to the transcript released by the committee on Tuesday, Gates spoke of “veiled” threats and said Epstein had considered exploiting his own knowledge of Gates’s extramarital affairs to force him to remain in Epstein’s orbit, even as Gates was distancing himself from Epstein.

“I was not blackmailed, but you know, as you look at these emails, you know, it looks like Mr Epstein’s brainstorming was going in that direction,” Gates added, referring to documents from the Epstein case released in January by the US Department of Justice.

  • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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    24 hours ago

    oh, so Bill Gates is the victim now, after giving his wife an STD after sleeping with one of Epstein’s children.

  • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    I don’t care what he or his PR says.

    Everyone on the Epstein list is very likely part of a massive criminal group that trafficked children and abused them and killed them. All of their communications and finances for the last 40 years should be closely investigated and made public.

    People with massive wealth are a danger to society.

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Honestly the longer the guilty go unpunished the less I give a fuck about who is and isn’t guilty or to what degree.

      Like the people adjacent to this and protecting them better figure the fuck out sooner than later, for their sake.

    • village604@adultswim.fan
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      1 day ago

      Not to defend gates, but plenty of people could be blackmailed by their porn viewing history.

      Most of us would disagree with the anti-privacy sentiment of, “if you have nothing to hide then why do you care.”

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Could people really? I have bizarre kinks and I would just swallow the embarrassment of explaining to everyone I know that hucows are not the same as furries and also not bestiality.

        It would suck, but it’s such a better option than being blackmailed into who knows what by monsters.

        • justaman123@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Are hucows cows that have a human consciousness and can therefore consent, this not making it rape? How are they not furries? Just like semantically?

          • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            The way I engage with it, it’s 100% normal humans treated like cows as a form of humiliation. They might be dressed somewhat reminiscently of them, but it’s not nearly as elaborate as furries. It could be as simple as wearing a cowbell, and doesn’t get to full coverage like with a fursuit. It’s also exclusively sexual for me, so it doesn’t feel very similar to furries from my non-furry perspective.

            It’s not rape, but I definitely engage with cnc related to it. I can’t explain why I’d like to be treated like livestock, but I do.

            • justaman123@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              From this discussion and the original comment it really seems like your pretty chill with explaining what it is, I mean I guess online is anonymous, but still given the context it seems like in general your sort of ok with humiliation

              • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Ah, that’s a fair guess from the context. I enjoy sexual humiliation from a known partner within a safe, sane, and consensual framework, but I don’t like just anything embarrassing.

                Like, I’d prefer it to blackmail, but I have higher social anxiety levels than most people do and don’t seek to be a clown or center of attention at all. I think I would probably cry and leave if asked to do something like that in public.

    • Blade9732@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Well, from what I learned from mainstream media, it would be extramarital affairs with “young woman”. Nothing to see here, all perfectly normal.

    • Malyca@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Evidently he never went to the island, at least with the current evidence we have access to. I think he did go Epstein’s apartment in New York though.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 days ago

      No he was a poor victim of extramarital affairs. Bill is a great guy he does patent trolling for vaccines and stuff.

    • Leviathan@fedinsfw.app
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      2 days ago

      Don’t need to go to an island or know Epstein to rape kids. If he did, I hope he burns.

  • lobut@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    “and that’s why I had him killed”

    seriously though, I don’t really feel sorry for people like him … could have been a million different ways you could have had affairs or did whatever but you had to go through Epstein …

  • zbyte64@awful.systems
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    20 hours ago

    Gates asked Epstein for what kind of antibiotics he could slip his wife without her knowing to treat STDs (allegedly, i don’t want to get sued)

  • knife@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    wow. I guess it really worked out for gates that epstein decided to commit suicide instead of going through with exposing his powerful friends. he really lucked out.

    it’s interesting that when jeff bezos was similarly blackmailed with intel of his affair he released all the info himself like keyser soze. I guess that’s why bill gates isn’t the top robber baron anymore.

  • DigDoug@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Why were you close enough to him that he knew about your affairs in the first place?

  • FukOui@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Fuck you. Adultery is the least of your concerns child rapist gates. You probably even ate children (if Gabriela Rico Jimenez were to be believed)