Why did Melinda Gates file for divorce? Bill Gates being friends with 'weird' Jeffrey Epstein 'haunted' her
According to the Wall Street Journal, Melinda French Gates started consulting with divorce lawyers just over a year before her separation from Bill Gates. This was partially due to her worries about her husband's dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The 56-year-old met with lawyers from various firms as early as October 2019, according to records and people familiar with the situation. She had said that the marriage was "irretrievably broken." Her concerns regarding her husband's connections to Epstein date back to at least 2013, according to the article.
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Why did Melinda Gates file for divorce?
According to the Wall Street Journal, Melinda had been worried about her husband's relationship with the pedophile financier since 2013. The Microsoft founder reportedly flew with Epstein on his private jet from New Jersey to Palm Beach, Florida, in 2013 -- four years after Epstein was sentenced to prison for soliciting a minor under the age of 18 for sex.
Melinda's worries reportedly came to a head several years later. She had been speaking with New York divorce attorney Robert Stephan Cohen as early as October 2019. The New York Times reported in the same month that Gates had met with Epstein many times and had once stayed late at his New York townhouse.
Melinda thought Epstein was 'weird'
Bill and Melinda Gates met Epstein in 2013, and Melinda allegedly told Bill that she thought he was "weird" and that they should not associate with him. Epstein had already spent time in a Florida jail, having pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008 and received an 18-month jail term.
The Microsoft founder and Epstein flew from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach on March 1, 2013, one of the few flights that year where pilot Larry Viskoski registered the name of a passenger, according to flight records reported by the Daily Mail.
Their relationship 'haunted' her
The plane in question was the infamous "Lolita Express". The luxury Boeing 727 private jet gained notoriety for its wild orgies and padded floors purposely designed for mid-air sex, The Sun reported. After the initial expose of his meetings in 2018, Gates had denied knowing that the plane belonged to Epstein. A spokeswoman for Gates had said at the time that the meetings had focused on philanthropy. "I met him. I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him," Gates had said to the Wall Street Journal.
Despite Melinda's fears, Gates and some employees from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation retained relations with Epstein, who committed suicide in his Manhattan jail in August 2019 while facing more serious sex charges, the Daily Mail said.
'Really obnoxious'
Melinda's friends had told the Daily Beast, at the time, that Gates' friendship with Epstein haunted her. A one-time colleague of Epstein had said that the photos of former President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II, displayed in Epstein’s mansion, were “really obnoxious, especially if you’re somebody like Melinda and hanging around with heads of state anyway. Then to have someone do this endless name-dropping..."
According to a Fox News article, Epstein had long-standing connections to former President Bill Clinton, who took at least 26 trips on the millionaire's Boeing 727 between 2001 and 2003.
Epstein appointed a little-known biotech venture capitalist named Boris Nikolic as backup executor of his will just days before he died in a New York prison, according to the Brisbane Times. Nikolic had previously served as a research advisor to Bill Gates and had recently invested in over a dozen companies focused on gene editing and other health-related innovations. Nikolic denied all allegations linking him to the financier, saying that such a consultation about Epstein's will had not taken place and that he had no intention to fulfill the duties.