In that tense June 10 appearance before the House Oversight Committee, Bill Gates was forced to thread a narrow line between confession and defense. He acknowledged affairs with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, nuclear scientist Karima Nigmatulina, and medical entrepreneur Dr. Alice Jacobs Nesselrodt, while insisting that Jeffrey Epstein never successfully blackmailed him. Yet the emails investigators confronted him with made clear Epstein was at least probing for leverage, documenting Gates’ relationships and even referencing Nesselrodt in a 2013 note to himself.

Gates rejected the most explosive allegations, including claims he contacted Epstein about a sexually transmitted disease after encounters with “Russian girls,” and he maintained he never discussed Epstein with any of the three women. He again expressed regret for ever associating with the disgraced financier, calling it a “huge mistake” and apologizing to those pulled into the scandal, even as he emphasized he has not been accused of any crime and denies knowing about Epstein’s abuses.