Washington: Bill Gates has said he regrets his association with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, following renewed attention on their past meetings. Speaking to Australia’s 9News, the Microsoft co-founder dismissed allegations linking him to misconduct and described his meetings with Epstein as a mistake.

“I regret every minute I spent with him. I apologise that I did that,” Gates said.

His comments came after his former wife, Melinda French Gates, spoke publicly about the impact of Epstein’s links on their marriage, saying Gates must answer questions about the relationship.

Gates also rejected claims emerging from recently released Epstein-related documents which alleged that he hid a sexually transmitted disease from his wife. His office described the claims as false.

Addressing one specific allegation, Gates said Epstein had written an email to himself that was never sent.

“That email is false,” he said, adding he did not know why Epstein wrote it and suggested it may have been meant to harm him.

Gates said he met Epstein in 2011 and had dinner with him on several occasions to discuss possible funding for global health initiatives. However, he maintained that he never visited Epstein’s private island and had no sexual links connected to Epstein.

“In retrospect, that was a dead end,” Gates said.

In an interview with NPR, Melinda French Gates said the renewed focus on Epstein brought back painful memories from their marriage, which ended in divorce in 2021 after 27 years.

“There are questions that remain, and those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband,” she said. “They need to answer to those things, not me.”

She described her current life as being free from “the muck” she felt she had to leave behind.

The issue has resurfaced as scrutiny continues over Epstein’s connections with influential personalities, years after he died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The renewed attention has also prompted political calls in the US for further investigation, including demands that Gates testify before Congress.

Melinda French Gates said the focus should remain on Epstein’s victims. “No girl should ever have been put in that situation,” she said.