CORRECTION, Dec. 18, 2023: Prince Andrew is the Duke of York. An earlier version of this article gave him a different title.
A Polish model who says she was a victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s international sex trafficking operations has memories of meeting Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates under mysterious circumstances, according to a report Sunday.
An investigation by The Wall Street Journal detailed how the woman, whose name was withheld, escorted Epstein to a meeting with Gates in March 2014 at his Seattle office.
“Now when I look at myself there, it couldn’t have looked normal,” the woman said in a recent interview.
“I saw the looks of those people, like what is she doing here?”
As well as reporting that she met with Gates on various occasions, the Journal reviewed three separate photos of her with Gates, including at Epstein’s townhouse and the Four Seasons Hotel in New York.
The meeting took place years after Epstein had registered as a sex offender, having pleaded guilty back in 2008 to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution in Florida.
Epstein met with many other powerful people during this time, including filmmaker Woody Allen and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.
He was often accompanied to these meetings by attractive young women, many of whom were promised perks such as acting gigs. Epstein told the Polish model he could help her get involved with the Gates Foundation, according to the Journal.
The report said she was put in touch with Melanie Walker, whose email identified her as a Gates Foundation deputy director. Walker “had known Epstein for years,” the Journal reported.
Are authorities hiding something about Jeffrey Epstein?
A spokesman for Walker, who no longer works at the Gates Foundation, said she “has always been happy to provide career advice to anyone who asks.”
“The Polish model spent about eight months with Epstein in 2014,” the Journal reported.
“Privately, Epstein began to sexually exploit her,” it said. “He told her she needed to stop being prudish, should take massage courses instead of singing classes, start birth control and watch pornography. He berated her for buying her own car and advised her to marry another woman to get a green card. He eventually told her she could get millions of dollars to become a mistress for one of his friends. She realized it was a trap and tried to cut contact.
“‘At the end, he told me that I’m not going to do well,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to even find a job, and I’m going back to Poland to my small room.’”
The model, who is now a married mom who works at a large financial services firm, told the Journal she is still haunted by her experience with Epstein.
“He abused me for so long that I don’t understand myself and how I let this happen,” she said. “I’m never going to get rid of those thoughts.”
A WSJ investigation shows Jeffrey Epstein never stopped abusing women. Victims say they were ensnared by his promises to use his VIP connections to get them jobs. https://t.co/efw0RE3rYo https://t.co/efw0RE3rYo
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 17, 2023
Bill Gates’ former wife, Melinda Gates, last year revealed that his meetings with Epstein were a factor in their divorce.
“It was many things,” she said in a CBS interview in March 2022. “But I did not like that he’d had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein.”
“I also met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time,” she added. “Because I wanted to see who this man was, and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.”
“He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards, actually,” she said. “So, my heart breaks for these young women, because that’s how I felt? And here I’m an older woman? My God, I feel terrible for those young women. It’s awful.”
Bill Gates, meanwhile, has said that his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was a “mistake I regret deeply.”
“It was a substantial error in judgment,” he said in a statement to CBS after the interview was aired.
“I remain dedicated to my work at the Gates Foundation, in partnership with Melinda, where our focus is to help reduce global inequities, giving every person a chance to live a healthy and productive life.”
