Have any law enforcement agencies ever opened investigations into Bill Gates for sex crimes or related offenses?
Executive summary
No public record in the reporting assembled shows a law enforcement agency opened a criminal investigation specifically naming Bill Gates for sex crimes tied to Jeffrey Epstein; the newly released Epstein files contain uncorroborated allegations by Epstein that Gates contracted an STI and other lurid claims, which Gates and his representatives have denied [1] [2] [3]. Separate from Epstein-related material, media reporting documents internal corporate inquiries and civil-era workplace allegations involving Gates that prompted Microsoft and its board to review his conduct, but those were not criminal investigations by police or federal prosecutors disclosed in these sources [4] [5].
1. What the Epstein files actually contain and how they have been reported
The Department of Justice released millions of pages of documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein that include draft emails penned by Epstein alleging intimate encounters involving Bill Gates — including claims that Gates contracted a sexually transmitted infection from “Russian girls” and that Epstein discussed procuring antibiotics — but multiple outlets note these are Epstein’s uncorroborated assertions and were characterized by Gates’ spokespeople as “absurd” and “completely false” [6] [2] [3]. News organizations such as PBS and the Associated Press emphasized that the trove shows names and communications, not proof of criminal conduct by the prominent figures appearing in the files [1] [7].
2. What law enforcement has done — or not done — according to the available records
The publicized coverage and summaries of the DOJ’s release and related reporting make clear that while Epstein and his network were the subject of FBI and DOJ investigations, the reporting does not document any law-enforcement indictment, arrest, or formal criminal investigation opened against Bill Gates arising from those Epstein-related files; outlets specifically note that none of the famous names in the files have been charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes based on the released documents [8] [1] [2]. Multiple headlines and fact notes across outlets reiterate that Gates “has not been accused of any crimes by law enforcement” in the context of the Epstein document dump [9] [10].
3. Internal probes and workplace allegations that have appeared separately in coverage
Independent of the Epstein materials, prior reporting documented workplace-related complaints about Gates; for example, a 2019 allegation that Gates initiated a sexual relationship with a Microsoft employee led Microsoft’s board to investigate the matter and prompted discussions about his board role, and corporate reviews of inappropriate conduct at Microsoft have been covered in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider [4] [5]. Those accounts describe internal and corporate governance responses — not criminal referrals or publicized police investigations against Gates for sex crimes — as presented in the cited reporting [4].
4. Competing narratives, incentives in the documents, and what the sources don’t show
Reporting underscores that many of the most sensational claims come from Epstein’s own drafts and were sometimes written to himself, raising questions about motive and credibility; Gates’ camp says Epstein tried to defame or manipulate after their falling out, and news outlets caution that the documents are heavily redacted and not equivalent to proof of criminality [6] [7] [3]. The documents’ release itself was driven by a transparency law and public pressure, and some outlets flag that the torrent of material has been selectively amplified by tabloids and social feeds — an incentive structure that can conflate allegation with investigation in public discourse [1] [11].
5. Bottom line and limits of available reporting
Based on the sourced coverage assembled here, there is no documented law-enforcement criminal investigation opened against Bill Gates for sex crimes in connection with the Epstein files or otherwise that is reported in these sources; there are unproven allegations in Epstein’s documents and separate corporate/internal inquiries into workplace conduct, but the reporting does not show criminal charges or formal police investigations targeting Gates for sex offenses [8] [2] [4]. If prosecutors or police have opened such an inquiry after these reports, that development is not reflected in the provided sources and cannot be confirmed by this analysis.