copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2020-06-26): FACT CHECK: Did Bill Gates Visit Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Island At Least 17 Times? An image shared on Facebook over 2,000 times claims Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. [...] The viral post claims Gates traveled to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St. James, 17 times via Epstein’s private jet. The island, where some of Epstein’s accusers have said they were sexually assaulted, had been nicknamed "Pedophile Island" by some of the locals, The New York Times reported.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-05): Epstein meetings a huge mistake, says Bill Gates Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has admitted he made "a huge mistake" in spending time with sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. [...] Mr Gates's representatives have previously played down his relationship with Epstein, saying there was no business partnership or personal friendship.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-05-12): - Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein met multiple times since 2011. [...] Bill Gates met Epstein again in 2013, this time joined by Melinda Gates [...] Bill Gates also reportedly flew with Epstein on his private jet, dubbed "Lolita Express," from New Jersey to Florida in 2013, according to the New York Times. Bill Gates denied to The Journal in 2019 that he went to Florida or to party functions with Epstein.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-05-17): How many times did Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates meet with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein before Epstein died in 2019? Just a few months after Epstein’s death, we learned about three meetings between Gates and Epstein from an article in the New York Times. But an explosive new report from the Daily Beast claims the two men met "dozens of times" between 2011 and 2014. [...] In fact, beginning in 2011, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times. [...] How many times did Gates and Epstein actually meet? That number is still up in the air, even if we’ve narrowed it down to "dozens." But if this Daily Beast report proves true, we can probably expect more revelations in the coming days and weeks.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-23): The co-founder of Microsoft met with Epstein on various philanthropic causes, Gates’s spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. Gates has repeatedly said he regrets his associations with Epstein. "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there," Gates told CNN in 2021 of his meetings with Epstein. [...] Epstein had sought to create an exclusive "donor advised fund," according to legal filings, composed of donations from some of the world’s wealthiest people. Gates, the Journal reported, was one of Epstein’s primary targets.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-07): In August 2021, several news outlets reported that Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and a billionaire philanthropist, had acknowledged that on several occasions he had met with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and had described those meetings as "a huge mistake." [...] ...Beginning in 2011, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times. [...] Gates described his meetings with Epstein as a "huge mistake" during the course of an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, on Aug. 5, 2021. In it, Cooper broached the subject of Gates' high-profile divorce from his wife Melinda, which was announced in May 2021, and finalized in August. The relevant section of that interview can be watched below. The following is an excerpted transcript:
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-22): The convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared to threaten Bill Gates and tried to blackmail the multi-billionaire over his extramarital affair with a Russian bridge player, according to a new report published by the Wall Street Journal. Speaking to the Journal, sources familiar with the matter said that after Epstein found out about the Microsoft co-founder’s affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, he threatened Mr Gates into reimbursing him for tuition costs that Epstein had initially covered for Ms Antonova to attend software coding school. Epstein’s threat to Mr Gates came in the form of an email he sent in 2017 after he failed to convince Mr Gates to join a multibillion-dollar charity fund he attempted to set up, according to the sources.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-30): Billionaire and philanthropist and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates met with financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein many times. But false claims about the location of those meetings and why the two met are spreading online. [...] Gates and Epstein met repeatedly beginning in 2011, The New York Times reported, including at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and in Florida. He stopped meeting with him in 2013, the paper reported. Gates’ employees also visited Epstein’s mansion. Gates has said before that he regretted meeting with him. [...] There’s no evidence to support the theory that Gates visited Epstein’s island 37 times. We rate this claim False.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-22): Billionaire and philanthropist and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates met with financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein many times. But false claims about the location of those meetings and why the two met are spreading online. [...] There’s no evidence to support the theory that Gates visited Epstein’s island 37 times. We rate this claim False. [...] Reuters, False claim: Bill Gates traveled to Epstein’s island multiple times, May 15, 2020
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2022-05-03): Microsoft founder admits meetings with sex offender were ‘huge mistake’ [...] Employees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "also paid multiple visits to Epstein’s mansion", the paper added, while "Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase about a proposed multibillion-dollar charitable fund". [...] A person familiar with the meetings told the site that "going to Jeffrey’s was a respite from his marriage. It was a way of getting away from Melinda". They added that Gates and Epstein "were very close".
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-08): What Was the Real Relationship Between Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Gates? As the world now knows, one of the more surprising names to have popped up around Jeffrey Epstein is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. It’s been widely reported that Gates had flown on Epstein’s plane at least once, and visited his home multiple times — but the depth of their relationship is not fully known, and more details are emerging. The media is rife with speculation that one cause of Gates’ recent divorce from his wife Melinda was his relationship with Epstein.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-05): Epstein meetings a huge mistake, says Bill Gates - Published Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has admitted he made "a huge mistake" in spending time with sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. [...] Mr Gates's representatives have previously played down his relationship with Epstein, saying there was no business partnership or personal friendship.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-05): Bill Gates calls dinners with Jeffrey Epstein a ‘huge mistake’ Bill Gates called his relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein a "huge mistake," and said he regretted having dinner with the sex offender on several occasions, in an interview with CNN. [...] A spokeswoman for the Microsoft co-founder said at the time that the meetings had centered on philanthropy. Epstein died in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-05): Bill Gates described his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a ‘huge mistake’ in a television interview aired days after Gates’s divorce from ex-wife Melinda French Gates was finalised. Bill Gates described his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a "huge mistake" in a television interview aired days after his divorce from ex-wife Melinda French Gates was finalised. [...] In 2019, The New York Times reported that Gates had met with Epstein on numerous occasions starting in 2011, including three times at Epstein’s New York townhouse.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-05): When Bill Gates was asked to reflect on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who was convicted of sex crimes, the Microsoft co-founder said Wednesday night that he regretted meeting with Epstein and acknowledged what he called "a huge mistake." [...] "I had several dinners with him…It was a huge mistake." - Bill Gates on his time spent with Jeffrey Epstein pic.twitter.com/Mpdty9s7H3 — Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) August 5, 2021 Gates’s relationship with Epstein began around 2011, years after the hedge-fund manager had already been convicted, and the men met multiple times at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, the New York Times reported. Epstein had previously pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges and served 13 months in prison as part of a non-prosecution deal with Miami federal prosecutors in 2008. As part of that deal, Epstein had to register as a sex offender and pay restitution to those victims identified by the FBI.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-12-17): Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was pictured posing with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers — part of the well-connected sex offender’s use of photos to manipulate the women he abused and control the narrative around his nefarious behavior, according to a new report. [...] Gates has previously admitted to and expressed regret for having several meetings with Epstein in the 2010s — after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida — as part of efforts to raise money for the Gates Foundation. A representative for Gates reiterated that the businessman and philanthropist "only ever met with Epstein for philanthropic purposes, which he regrets."
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-21): Gates met with Epstein multiple times starting in 2011 to discuss philanthropy, years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution, the New York Times first reported. The billionaire has distanced himself from Epstein in recent years, following Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking charges and subsequent death in federal custody. Gates said he met with Epstein in the hopes of getting billions of dollars for global health initiatives, but later described the interactions as a "huge mistake." Melinda French Gates, the billionaire’s ex-wife, also thought the meetings were a mistake. In an interview discussing the couple’s divorce, French Gates said she made it clear to Gates that she "did not like that [Gates] had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein." French Gates disclosed that she met Epstein once to "see who this man was" and found him to be "abhorrent" and "evil personified." Sunday’s report is not the first time Gates has been accused of having an affair.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2024-01-08): In March 2014, Jeffrey Epstein took his private jet to Seattle to visit Bill Gates at his office. Epstein brought along a Polish model he had met a few months earlier. Dressed in a long gray coat, she posed for a photo with the Microsoft co-founder. Epstein took the picture. [...] As for Gates’ true relationship with Epstein, the most favorable interpretation of known events leaves him on the hook. A balanced discussion of this question is contained in a new book by progressive journalist Tim Schwab titled, "The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning With the Myth of the Good Billionaire." Schwab asserts that Gates’ explanations of his interactions with Epstein are plagued by "contradiction after contradiction." He writes: [...] Melinda French Gates herself publicly stated that she immediately saw Epstein for what he was and made her feelings known to Bill. "I also met Jeffrey Epstein—exactly one time," she said in a 2022 interview. "Because I wanted to see who this man was. And I regretted it from the second I stepped into the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards."
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-21): The convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared to threaten Bill Gates and tried to blackmail the multi-billionaire over his extramarital affair with a Russian bridge player, according to a new report published by the Wall Street Journal. Speaking to the Journal, sources familiar with the matter said that after Epstein found out about the Microsoft co-founder’s affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, he threatened Gates into reimbursing him for tuition costs that Epstein had initially covered for Antonova to attend software coding school. [...] Similarly, the Journal reported that a Gates spokesperson "has said Epstein never worked for Gates and misrepresented their ties in communications with JP Morgan and others".
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2023-05-02): Those and other prominent figures from politics, finance, academia and the arts had meetings scheduled with financier Jeffrey Epstein several times after he had registered as a sex offender and served time in jail for abusing a 14-year-old girl in 2008, according to documents that show his schedules, The Wall Street Journal has reported. [...] A Goldman Sachs representative said Epstein introduced Ruemmler to several potential clients, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. [...] Ruemmler never visited his island and "never accepted an invitation or an opportunity to fly with Jeffrey Epstein anywhere", the Goldman spokesman said.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2024-09-13): In 2019, the foundation – whose influence, size and practices had already invited criticism – took an even bigger hit to its reputation when the news emerged, just weeks after Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell, that Gates had met with the convicted sex offender and paedophile several times. Gates clarified that he had met Epstein purely to discuss philanthropy, and that he was sorry for his poor judgment. When news of Gates’ ties to Epstein first came tumbling out in 2019, Gates’ media team did what spinmeisters do – they employed a high-visibility strategy that included multiple television appearances, harnessing the press, just as they had after the Microsoft trial in 1998, the biggest antitrust case of the era, in which Gates gave a three-day deposition, and was by turns indignant and contemptuous of questions about Microsoft’s business practices. Gates has always maintained that he met with Epstein because he was told that the financier could connect him with a lot of rich donors who could help raise more money for philanthropic causes.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2022-10-05): Indeed, we cannot of course condemn him on the evidence. What stands out however is that Gates associated with Epstein after the latter's criminal history was known, and associated the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with him (because Gates claims his visits to Epstein were in that capacity). One would think that Gates or his Foundation would have done some background investigation into a potential major donor/associate before Gates "had dinners" with him. Either there was more going on, or Gates is not as smart as many people make him out to be; let us be charitable and make the latter assumption.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2024-01-04): "Confirmed visitors to Epstein Island 12/21/23," read a Jan. 3 Facebook post that then listed 166 people, many of them celebrities and world figures. President Joe Biden. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Singers Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. Actors Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The list went on. [...] Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates is also on the list and is not mentioned in the new court documents. The New York Times in 2019 reported that Gates had met with Epstein multiple times since 2011, and that employees of Gates’ foundation also visited Epstein’s mansion. In a September 2019 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gates confirmed that he met Epstein, but said he did not have "any business relationship or friendship with him." [...] The New York Times, Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past, Oct. 12, 2019
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2019-09-10): A leaked email obtained by BuzzFeed News also suggests that Epstein separately pursued ties with Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. [...] Gates, who was chairman of Microsoft until 2014, faced questions about his ties to Epstein last month after his former science adviser, Boris Nikolic, was named by Epstein as a backup executor for his will, signed two days before he killed himself in a federal detention center in Manhattan. Also last month, CNBC reported that Gates held a meeting in 2013 with Epstein to discuss ways to increase philanthropic giving. "Epstein was introduced to Bill Gates as someone who was interested in helping grow philanthropy," a spokesperson for Gates told BuzzFeed News by email. "Although Epstein pursued Bill Gates aggressively, any account of a business partnership or personal relationship between the two is simply not true. And any claim that Epstein directed any programmatic or personal grantmaking for Bill Gates is completely false."
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2020-05-06): There’s no evidence that Bill Gates ever visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, contrary to a viral Facebook post claiming he went there numerous times. The "flight records" cited do not show that. [...] "Flight records confirm that Bill Gates went to Epstein’s child sex trafficking island, 17 times," claimed the Facebook text post, shared more than 40,000 times. "It’s a fact, not a theory." [...] Flitter, Emily and James B. Stewart. "Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past." New York Times. 12 Oct 2019.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-08-05): Bill Gates on His Association With Jeffrey Epstein: ‘It Was a Huge Mistake’ Just days after Rolling Stone asked "What Was the Real Relationship Between Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Gates?," the Microsoft co-founder said in a new interview that he regrets his association with the late financier and convicted sex offender. [...] As Rolling Stone reported in its recent dive into the relationship between Gates and Epstein, the pair first met in 2011, two years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to "procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18" and received a "sweetheart deal" from prosecutors. It’s been reported that Gates had flown on Epstein’s plane at least once, and visited Epstein’s home multiple times.
Claim: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein’s private island at least 17 times. (Viral Post, 2020-04-24)
Evidence (2021-05-17): In the wake of Bill and Melinda French Gates’s recently announced divorce, questions about the Microsoft co-founder’s friendship with convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein have resurfaced. Multiple reports allege that Melinda had long disapproved of Bill’s relationship with Epstein and that it was a source of tension in their marriage. According to the New York Times, French Gates hired divorce lawyers in October 2019, after her then-husband’s friendship with Epstein became public. [...] Sources have alleged Gates met up with Epstein dozens of times after their initial meeting, including at least three visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and 2013 trip to New York in which Epstein and Gates "met for dinner and discussed the Gates Foundation and philanthropy." Earlier that year, Gates reportedly flew on Epstein’s private jet, though spokespeople for Gates claim he was unaware the plane belonged to Epstein. [...] When Gates’s encounters with Epstein surfaced in 2019, he downplayed the relationship. When asked about Epstein in a September 2019 interview with the WSJ, Gates said, "I met him. I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him."