Sources vs Sources: The Bill Gates Mystery at India AI Summit

Will he, won’t he?

Bill Gates is officially in India for the AI Impact Summit 2026, and he’s supposed to give his keynote speech on Thursday. But the shadow of the Epstein Files has followed the billionaire to New Delhi.

According to “government sources” who spoke to PTI, Gates will not be attending the much vaunted AI summit in New Delhi. However, this is at odds with what “Gates Foundation sources” told ANI.

As things stand now, there is no official word on Gates backing out of the summit. And PTI maintains that “government sources” have said he will not attend the summit.

Many in India had already criticised the government’s decision to include Gates in the summit, even though he “regrets every moment” he spent with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But what do the files actually say about the Microsoft co-founder?

Records show meetings, dinners and philanthropic discussions with the disgraced financier, revealing a network of access and power the two men moved in. Gates claimed that he first met Epstein in 2011, much after the latter was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a girl under the age of 18. From 2005 to 2007, Epstein faced accusations of sexually abusing several minors, beginning with a 14-year-old survivor who was the first to come forward. 

However, he only pleaded guilty to one charge of solicitation and one charge of solicitation of a minor. Following this, he was publicly required to register as a sex offender.  

What the emails say

The tech billionaire had intended to meet Epstein in 2010, but cancelled due to scheduling issues, according to the files. “I was looking forward to the dinner,” the tech billionaire wrote. 

However, at the centre of the scandal surrounding Gates are two emails in July 2013 that Epstein seems to have written to himself. It’s unclear whether the emails were written for himself or on behalf of someone else, notably Boris Nikolic, Gates’ former science adviser, as some reports suggest. According to Forbes, the timing of the email corresponds to when Gates’ former science adviser was in touch with the disgraced financier regarding Gates Foundation business. 

The first mail says, “In my role as his right hand, I had been asked on multiple occasions and was wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound and had been repeatedly asked to do other things that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal.” 

The mail continues, “From helping Bill to get drugs, to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro bridge tounianints (sic).”

On the same day, Epstein wrote himself an even longer email. 

This reads, “… you [Gates] then subsequently, with tears in your eyes, implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda …”

Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates finalised their divorce in 2021. The records imply Epstein facilitated sexual encounters for the Microsoft co-founder and allegedly arranged for antibiotics to treat a sexually transmitted disease, with the disturbing implication that the medication could be administered to Melinda without her knowledge or consent.

Gates has completely denied these claims in an exclusive interview with 9News. “That email was never sent. The email is false. I don't know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way? Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise that I did that.”

However, Melinda told a podcast, “It’s hard whenever those details come up because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.” She added that she is thankful to be away “from all the muck now”. 

Gates has also denied ever going to Epstein’s island in the Caribbean, where minors were trafficked and abused. Notably, the Gates Foundation invests heavily in initiatives for adolescent girls. Its chief executive, Mark Suzman, has said he now feels “sullied” by the allegations.

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