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WASHINGTON (AFP) — On Wednesday morning, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals and most high-profile philanthropists, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, entered Capitol Hill to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers about his past connections to the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For years, Epstein’s sprawling network of elite, powerful associates has drawn intense public scrutiny and spawned widespread speculation across political and media circles.

Gates sat for a closed-door transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee, a panel probing the disgraced financier whose 2019 death in a New York jail cell came while he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls. As Gates made his way into the hearing room, he stopped briefly to address reporters, saying, “I hope my testimony is helpful to the work — important work — of the committee to find justice for the victims,” before declining to answer any additional questions.

The committee called Gates to testify after recently released documents from the U.S. Department of Justice opened up new lines of inquiry about the extent of his interactions with Epstein. Gates joins a growing list of high-profile public figures who have already appeared before the panel, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and current U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

In a pre-interview statement provided to AFP, a spokesperson for Gates said the billionaire welcomed the opportunity to address the committee’s questions and reiterated that he “never witnessed or participated in Epstein’s illegal conduct.”

Among the thousands of released Epstein documents is a 2013 draft email that appears to claim Epstein assisted Gates in managing public backlash after extramarital affairs, including helping Gates obtain antibiotics following a sexually transmitted infection exposure. Gates has repeatedly labeled the email a forgery and denied all the claims contained within it. In a February interview with Australian television, Gates acknowledged that his decision to build a relationship with Epstein was “foolish,” but stressed that the connection had no ties to Epstein’s criminal activities.

“Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise that I did that… It’s factually true that I was only at dinners. I never went to (his) island, I never met any women,” Gates stated in that interview.

Legal experts emphasize that mere inclusion in Epstein’s personal files does not constitute evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of any individual named. According to a prior Wall Street Journal report, Gates admitted to staff at his philanthropic foundation that he had engaged in extramarital affairs with two Russian women, but he has consistently denied ever interacting with any of Epstein’s victims. Gates has confirmed his relationship with Epstein began in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a state charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution. He has also acknowledged that his then-wife Melinda French Gates raised explicit concerns about his contact with Epstein as early as 2013, yet he maintained the relationship for at least another 12 months.

Melinda French Gates, who finalized her divorce from Gates in 2021, has previously stated that all outstanding questions about her ex-husband’s ties to Epstein are a matter for Gates and other involved parties to address.

The House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Epstein and his long-time accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is part of a broader inquiry into how federal agencies handled the Epstein case and what transparency the government has provided around the thousands of documents tied to his crimes and network. U.S. President Donald Trump, who himself maintained a years-long relationship with Epstein, initially opposed the public release of the full cache of Epstein documents, leading to persistent accusations of a cover-up that have marked his first year back in office.

Democratic members of the committee have made clear they intend to probe what Gates knew about Epstein’s criminal activities, as well as the full scope and nature of their professional and personal relationship. Unlike many previous interviews the committee has conducted and released publicly, Gates’ interview will not be videotaped.

U.S. media outlets have also reported that Gates retained former Justice Department lawyer John Moran to represent him for the interview, and received preparatory assistance from Jake Greenberg, a former lead investigator for the House Oversight Committee. Ethics experts note that while the arrangement raises ethical optics concerns, it does not explicitly violate any congressional or ethics rules.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a significant development from Jamaica’s elite law enforcement crackdown on organized financial crime, a 28-year-old Jamaican woman has entered guilty pleas to multiple charges linked to a multi-million dollar fraud conspiracy, bringing investigators one step closer to wrapping up a case targeting a 14-member alleged criminal network. Briana Smikle, the defendant, appeared before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday to answer to allegations brought forward by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), the country’s top law enforcement body tasked with dismantling large-scale criminal and corrupt operations. Prosecutors from MOCA laid out a clear case against Smikle, alleging that she knowingly served as a money mule for the criminal ring, accepting repeated transfers of funds that were derived from illegal activity into personal bank accounts under her name. Court documents detail the first recorded illegal transaction took place in June 2022, when Smikle received a total of $1.3 million split across two separate transfers to her accounts. The illegal activity continued into 2023, with two additional transfers of $400,000 and $500,000 hitting her accounts on different dates throughout the year. Beyond just accepting the stolen funds, investigators allege that Smikle actively laundered the money through two key methods: making large cash withdrawals directly from her bank branches in person, then distributing the physical funds to other members of the network, and sending portions of the illicit money electronically to third parties connected to the fraud scheme. In a turn that surprised many court observers, Smikle pleaded guilty to all charges laid against her, which include multiple counts of receiving stolen property and engaging in regulated financial transactions involving property that she knew originated from criminal activity. Following the guilty plea, presiding judges granted a request to extend her pre-sentencing bail, while adjusting the strict reporting conditions that were previously imposed. Where Smikle was required to check in with law enforcement on a daily basis, that requirement has now been lowered to just three check-ins per week. Smikle’s appearance in court this week is part of a much broader investigation into organized fraud being led by MOCA. Prosecutors confirmed that the operation has so far led to charges against at least 14 individuals connected to the same criminal ring, all of whom are facing fraud-related offences as the investigation progresses. In a further indication of her effort to seek leniency ahead of sentencing, Smikle has formally communicated to the court that she is willing to pay full restitution for the illegal funds she handled as part of the scheme. She is scheduled to return to the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on October 26 for her official sentencing hearing, where the judge will determine what penalty she will receive for her guilty pleas.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — As a new Atlantic hurricane season enters its ninth day, a Jamaican opposition lawmaker is sounding the alarm over the abysmal delivery of aid from a government-backed housing recovery program meant to support tourism workers displaced by last year’s Hurricane Melissa.

Andrea Purkiss, the opposition’s spokesperson on tourism and industry linkages and the Member of Parliament for Hanover Eastern, made the claims during her first-ever sectoral address to Jamaica’s Parliament on Tuesday. Purkiss, who brings 27 years of firsthand experience in the country’s critical hospitality sector, laid out damning figures to back up her criticism. From her own constituency office alone, 30 eligible tourism workers who lost their homes and income to the Category 5 storm were submitted to the Tourism Housing Assistance Recovery Programme (THARP). Months after the submissions, just three workers have received any form of assistance from the initiative.

The disparities stretch across other hard-hit tourism-dependent constituencies, Purkiss confirmed. The MP for St James South submitted 20 names of affected workers to the program, and only one has secured aid to date.

Highlighting the human cost of the program’s failures, Purkiss painted a stark picture of the crisis facing waiting workers. “Three out of 30. One out of 20. We are nine days into a new hurricane season, and the recovery from the last one is not complete. That is not a recovery programme. That is a press release with a name,” she told legislators. “A cost control clerk, a mother of three, is sleeping in her car waiting for a government that promised to see her. She is still waiting.”

Purkiss also outlined cascading financial pressures that have compounded the lack of housing aid. When Hurricane Melissa first hit, hotel operators across the island projected that properties would remain closed for roughly 120 days to repair damage. In response, financial institutions granted six-month mortgage moratoriums to impacted hospitality workers, who lost all income during closures. But as repair work hit delays, reopening timelines stretched first to nine months, then to 12 full months — and the mortgage relief window was never extended to match the extended loss of income.

Nine months without steady wages and no extended financial protection have left thousands of tourism workers on the brink of housing instability, Purkiss argued. She issued a formal call on Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to deliver a full public and national accounting of the THARP program to Parliament before the 2024 hurricane season gains momentum. The accounting, she said, should include the total number of program applications received nationwide, how many applications have been processed to date, the total amount of aid funding that has been disbursed, and a legally binding timeline to deliver assistance to every eligible worker still waiting for support.