"It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein," Gates said during a meeting with employees at his foundation on Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
At the same time, he denied that he participated in or witnessed any of Epstein's criminal acts, something he has not been accused of either.
"To be clear, I never spent any time with Epstein's victims, the women around him."
According to Gates, the two met in 2011 - several years after Epstein admitted to buying sex from a minor - and are said to have traveled together to Germany and France on Epstein's private plane, but have not met since 2014.
Among the newly released documents from the Epstein investigation is a draft email in which Epstein, among other things, claims that Gates was involved in extramarital affairs. Epstein allegedly "helped" him deal with the consequences of having sexual relations with Russian women, information that the Gates Foundation previously called false.
During Tuesday's meeting, however, Gates revealed that he had affairs with two different Russian women while he was married to his then-wife, Melinda Gates.
