Rumors that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was named in a new batch of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein circulated on social media in late January and early February 2026. The rumor spread after the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of additional files pertaining to its investigation into Epstein's sex-trafficking crimes.
Users on Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived) shared rumors about purported emails from Epstein in the files that said Gates contracted an STD from having "sex with Russian girls."
In short, the claim about the emails' existence was true. Snopes independently verified two such emails were in the latest batch of Epstein files released by the DOJ on Jan. 30, 2026. Both emails appeared to be drafts or notes from Epstein to himself, as the sender and recipient fields listed Epstein's email address, jeevacation@gmail.com.
Snopes could not independently verify whether the emails were ever actually sent to or read by Gates or anyone other than Epstein — or whether the allegations in the messages were true — but the language in the emails was accurately reflected by what users shared on social media. A spokesman for Gates told Snopes the claims made by Epstein were entirely untrue.
In an email dated 11:40 a.m. July 18, 2013, Epstein wrote a draft that began, "dear bill, I cannot believe that you have chosen to disregard our friendship developed of over the last 6 years."
The New York Times reported that Epstein wrote the message after a failed attempt to arrange a deal between Gates' foundation and JPMorgan Chase.
The email continued to elaborate on Epstein's apparent disappointment in the dissolution of such a venture and how it would "impact the public perception" of Epstein's reputation.
The line in the email pertaining to the rumor at hand read:
what I did receive however was an unfriendly strongly worded email, telling me how employable I am and that I should not look to you for any significant financial help in the future, TO add insult to the injury you them implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis.
"Melinda" referred to Melinda French Gates, co-founder of the Gates Foundation, who was married to Bill Gates until they divorced in 2021.
In an email from the same date with a timestamp of 12:39 p.m. — less than an hour after the first email — Epstein wrote that he had "decided to resign my position effective immediately," though it did not appear Epstein held any official position at the Gates Foundation. The email continued to say Epstein was "caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill."
The email described arrangements Epstein allegedly made for Gates, "From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro bridge tournamnts."
The email concluded: "I feel I owe it to my friends and futre colleagues to admit a moral failure, to ask forgiveness and to move on with my life."
A spokesperson for Gates told Snopes via email that the claims within the emails were "absolutely absurd and completely false," adding that "the only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame."
In 2019, The New York Times reported that Epstein and Gates began meeting in 2011, after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Epstein reportedly pitched himself as intermediary for a deal being discussed between the Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase to create the Global Health Investment Fund. The report said Epstein proposed he receive 0.3% of any money he raised for the venture.
Following the announcement of the Gates' divorce in 2021, the Times reported that Melinda French Gates set divorce proceedings in motion when public revelations of Bill Gates' connection with Epstein were revealed in 2019.
During an interview on CNN in 2021, Bill Gates said he "certainly" had concerns when he first came in contact with Epstein. Gates told Anderson Cooper:
I had several dinners with him hoping that what he said about getting billions in philanthropy for Global Health through contacts that he had might emerge. When it looked like that wasn't a real thing, that relationship ended. But it was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there. There were lots of others in that same situation, but I made a mistake.