Bill Gates' Ties to Jeffrey Epstein May Have Triggered Wife Melinda to Seek Divorce

Bill Gates’ impending divorce is drawing lots of questions now that The Wall Street Journal is reporting that wife Melinda Gates may have been looking into leaving the marriage as early as 2019. It also appears that Bill’s association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which was made public by The New York Times that same year, was the catalyst for the divorce.

By the time Bill met Epstein in 2011, he had already been in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was a registered sex offender. Like many high-powered men, the Microsoft founder looked the other way and ignored the red flags when it came to Epstein by meeting with him several times to discuss possible philanthropic partnerships. He found the financier’s lifestyle, both “very different and kind of intriguing,” per an email to colleagues obtained by The New York Times. After the October 2019 article came out, Melinda started seeking legal representation for a possible divorce, per The Wall Street Journal, who obtained court documents.

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That Epstein relationship has continued to haunt Bill, both personally and professionally, even though he claimed to The Wall Street Journal in 2019, “I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him.” Those interactions with the late pedophile were unsettling enough for Melinda to start seeking divorce options. While the couple has not confirmed the specific cause for their split, it does seem reasonable to assess that they waited to officially file the papers until their youngest daughter, Phoebe, 18, graduated from high school.

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The duo also had their financial paperwork in order leading up to the public announcement, so they’ve likely been working on this behind the scenes for quite some time. With a substantial portfolio, unraveling their joint assets cannot be done overnight. The Epstein-connection shows how far-reaching the scandal really is — it sidelined Prince Andrew as a senior royal member, and now, it was possibly the trigger for Bill and Melinda’s divorce.

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