The US Department of Justice on Friday released emails from Jeffrey Epstein in which the disgraced financier claims to have helped the Microsoft co-founder with his extramarital affairs. The Gates Foundation denounced the allegations as "absurd and completely false."

Did Jeffrey Epstein want to blackmail Bill Gates? Emails from the late financier, convicted of sex crimes and released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, suggest that the Microsoft co-founder had extramarital affairs. In these messages, dated July 2013, which Epstein sent to himself, the convicted sex offender claims to have helped the Microsoft co-founder obtain substances "to manage the effects of his sexual relations with Russian women." He also says he arranged "illicit" encounters for him with married women.

The Gates Foundation immediately responded to the BBC. "These allegations—coming from a proven and embittered liar—are absolutely absurd and completely false," a spokesperson told the British broadcaster. "These documents only demonstrate Epstein's frustration at not having a lasting relationship with Gates and the lengths to which he was willing to go to entrap and defame him."

A failed partnership at the root of the conflict

These messages came shortly after the collapse of a partnership project between the Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase, which Epstein had hoped to negotiate. The aborted deal was expected to make him a fortune. In one of the emails, written like a diary entry, the financier criticizes the billionaire for choosing to "neglect and discard" a six-year friendship. He also accuses Epstein of abandoning him to protect his reputation.

In another message, Jeffrey Epstein announced his resignation from his positions with the Gates Foundation and BG3, a think tank created by the billionaire. He justified his departure by citing his involuntary involvement in a "serious marital conflict between Melinda and Bill." He further claimed that Gates had asked him to participate in "things ranging from morally inappropriate to ethically questionable" and "potentially illegal."

A relationship that precipitated the Gates' divorce

For now, it has not been established that Jeffrey Epstein ever sent these emails to anyone. That being said, the questionable relationship between the two men, which reportedly began around 2011 (after Epstein's conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor), contributed to Melinda French Gates' decision to file for divorce.

In 2021, during an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Bill Gates described the relationship as a "huge mistake." He downplayed his contacts with the financier, reducing them to "several dinners" intended to persuade Epstein to generate donations for his foundation.