(New York Post) Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was pictured posing with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers — part of the well-connected sex offender’s use of photos to manipulate the women he abused and control the narrative around his nefarious behavior, according to a new report.
The photo — believed to be among the first showing Gates with an alleged Epstein victim — was allegedly taken by the shady financier himself at Gates’ Seattle office in March 2014, years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In the image, published by the Journal Sunday, Gates is seen smiling and fiddling with the zipper of his dark quarter-zip sweater as a woman identified as a Polish model, then in her 20s, stands erect at his side in a gray jacket and blue scarf with her chest nearly pressed up against him.
The woman, whose face was obscured in the published photo, told the Journal she met Epstein, a registered sex offender, months before the snap was taken and that he then quickly began showering her with promises that he could help her career with his powerful connections.
At least three other photos exist allegedly showing Gates with Epstein accusers, the Journal reported, saying it reviewed images of a Russian model who claims she was abused by Epstein posing with the tech titan at locations including the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City and Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse.
Gates, 68, was not the only prominent figure to appear in newly emerged photos with alleged victims of Epstein, who hanged himself in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was pictured with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers in March 2014. ZUMAPRESS.com
The Polish model was also pictured alongside director Woody Allen at Epstein’s townhouse, and with former CBS News journalist Charlie Rose, among others, according to the Journal.
The model did not accuse Gates or any of the other men of sexual misconduct.
But her attorneys told the Journal that even if unbeknownst to her, Epstein was using his powerful connections to further his alleged sex trafficking operation.
“Without having legitimate connections to so many high-powered people, Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to traffic most of these women after 2008,” said Brad Edwards, who alongside his law firm partner Brittany Henderson represents the model and more than 150 of Epstein’s accusers.
The photo was taken six years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File
“He used the powerful people he was intermingling with to further facilitate his sex trafficking scheme, whether those people knew it or not,” Henderson added. “He was using everyone around him to create this façade of legitimacy.”
A number of Epstein accusers have previously been seen in photos with powerful men, including the now-infamous shot of Britain’s Prince Andrew with his arm around the bare midriff of then-17-year-old Virginia Roberts Giuffre, with convicted Epstein madam Ghislaine Maxwell smiling in the background.
Another photo features former President Bill Clinton getting a massage from former Epstein employee and accuser Chauntae Davies during a trip aboard Epstein’s private jet, known as the “Lolita Express.”
In the cases of the Polish and Russian models, Epstein accumulated images of the young women with business leaders and other prominent men, telling them the snaps could advance their careers — but then used those images to support his narrative of being powerfully connected, which he in turn used to lure in more victims, the Journal reported.
Gates posing with Epstein in the sex offender’s Manhattan apartment in 2011
The models told the newspaper that Epstein would push them to post the images to their social media accounts, and would then string them along with promises of being given work through those connections.
But those promises would nearly always fall through in the end.
For the Polish model, Epstein’s drawn-out line of promises ended with an offer to be the mistress of one of his friends, which he said could earn her millions, she told the paper.
She declined the offer shortly before escaping home to Poland in 2015, only for Epstein to use her photo with Gates to try to draw her back.
He sent her the snap in March 2015, telling her that instead of the life she used to live, “now you are back in your room, as you only follow your own advice,” the report said.
“My impression is that becoming a mistress was the only one job proposition you were really serious about,” she wrote to him a few months later. “Meeting Gates or Woody was great — thank you — will never forget it — although nobody hire me just because I have a nice pictures with them.”
Gates has previously admitted to and expressed regret for having several meetings with Epstein in the 2010s — after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida — as part of efforts to raise money for the Gates Foundation.
A representative for Gates reiterated that the businessman and philanthropist “only ever met with Epstein for philanthropic purposes, which he regrets.”
“Epstein tried, unsuccessfully, to connect himself to Mr. Gates by any means possible, including spontaneously bringing in people for photos with Bill, whom Bill did not know or interact with further,” the spokesperson said.
Prince Andrew with then-17-year-old Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell. DOJ
Allen, in a statement to the Journal, said he was never aware that Epstein was using Allen’s name to manipulate victims.
“At no time did he ever request I cast anyone in a movie — and I never did it,” the director said.
