JAKARTA - There is the name of the late Jeffrey Epstein, behind the divorce of world conglomerate Bill Gates with his wife Melinda Gates. Reporting by Al Jazeera from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Melinda met with her divorce lawyer after it was revealed Bill had a meeting with Epstein.
Epstein himself was a convicted felon who died in prison in August 2019, while awaiting trial on a United States federal sex trafficking charge.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates met with Epstein on numerous occasions starting in 2011, after Epstein had been convicted of a sex crime, The New York Times reported in October 2019, citing more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship.
Melinda Gates had told Bill she was uncomfortable with Epstein, after the couple met him in 2013, a former Gates Foundation employee told the WSJ. However, Bill and other foundation employees continued to have a relationship with Epstein.
At least three of Bill Gates and Epstein's meetings were held at Mr. Epstein's luxury townhouse in Manhattan and involved Bill "at least one stay until late at night, the Times reported in 2019.
Melinda Gates held a number of phone calls with her advisers in 2019, after a Times report on Bill and Epstein was published, the WSJ said, citing documents that had been reviewed.
Melinda and Bill Gates announced their decision to divorce after 27 years of marriage in a joint statement posted simultaneously to their Twitter account last week.
"Over the past 27 years, we have raised three wonderful children and built a foundation that works around the world to enable everyone to live a healthy and productive life," the statement read.
"We continue to share confidence in the mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives," the statement continued.
A joint petition filed by the couple in a Seattle court to dissolve their marriage called it 'irreparably broken'.
Responding to the WSJ's request for comment on his relationship with Epstein, bill Gates' spokesman directed the paper to an answer he had previously given to the WSJ in a September 2019 interview.
"I met him. I have no business relationship or friendship with him," spokesman Bill Gates replied.
Epstein's former friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, recently pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges. He is being held in a New York City jail and will stand trial this summer. Prosecutors allege Maxwell, a British socialite, helped Epstein sexually abuse girls.
While Gates has yet to say what started their divorce, it has shaken the philanthropic world.
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Bill Gates' net worth is estimated at $130.5 billion, according to Forbes, and he has donated $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the couple's foundation.
A day after the couple announced their divorce, Bill Gates' parent company, Cascade Investment, transferred $1.8 billion worth of shares to Melinda Gates.
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