One of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates, has broken his silence following allegations surfacing in the latest round of documents released regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health,’ Gates said in an interview with Nine News on Wednesday.

Gates gave his ‘only Australian TV interview’ with the network during a trip to the country for the Australian Open, which ran from January 12 to February 1 at Melbourne Park

The billionaire continued: ‘You know, in retrospect that was a dead end and I was foolish to spend time with him. I am one of many people who regret ever knowing him.

‘Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is, you know, false.

‘I don’t know what his thinking was there. Every minute that I spent with him, I regret and I apologise that I did that.

‘I was only at dinners… I never went to the island, I never met any women, and so, you know, the more that comes out, the more clear it’ll be, that although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.’

The latest tranche of documents contains allegations against a number of well-known people including Gates, who met Epstein on multiple occasions to discuss expanding his philanthropic efforts.

email Epstein sent to himself in 2013 shows him frustrated over Gates’ decision to end their friendship and appears to allege Gates contracted an STD and sought his advice to secretly give an antibiotic to his then-wife Melinda.

‘TO add insult to injury you them implore me to please delete the emails mails regarding your std, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis,’ the email with typos reads.

Another section showed Epstein writing he was ‘dismayed beyond comprehension’ by Gates’s decision to ‘disregard our friendship developed over the last six years.’

Does Bill Gates have more explaining to do?

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The emails were among the hundreds of thousands of Epstein files published by America’s Department of Justice on Friday morning.

Melinda, who divorced Bill Gates in 2021, earlier on Tuesday said those mentioned in the documents, including her ex, should publicly address the allegations.

During Tuesday’s episode of NPR’s Wild Card podcast, Melinda, 61, said she felt sorry for the victims of Epstein.

‘I think we’re having a reckoning as a society, right? No girl, no girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him,’ she said, shaking her head.

She added: ‘It’s beyond heartbreaking. I remember being those ages those girls were, I remember my daughters being those ages.

As for me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up.’

Melinda and Bill were married from 1994 to 2021 and she has cited his friendship with Epstein as one of the reasons for the divorce, but has not divulged further details. 

Melinda reportedly hired lawyers to plan the split in 2019, after reports emerged about his repeated meetings with Epstein, contradicting the Microsoft founder’s earlier public denials.

She retained counsel after becoming concerned about her husband’s alleged business dealings with the disgraced financier, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A spokesman for Gates previously told the Daily Mail: ‘These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false.

‘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.’