Melinda French Gates began working with divorce lawyers well over a year before her split with Bill Gates was announced last week, partly over concerns about her husband’s dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal [0].
The 56-year-old spoke with attorneys from several firms as early as October 2019, saying the marriage was “irretrievably broken,” the Journal reported Sunday, citing documents and people familiar with the matter. Her unease about her ex-husband’s ties to Epstein dates back to at least 2013, the paper said.
The New York Times reported in October 2019 that the billionaire had met with Epstein several times, and once stayed late at his New York townhouse. A spokeswoman for Microsoft Corp. co-founder said at the time that the meetings had centered on philanthropy. Epstein had died in jail two months prior while awaiting trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.
The divorce was negotiated during the pandemic, involving legal teams working with a mediator to divide their fortune, which the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs at $145 billion.
The couple said that they plan on remaining co-chairs and trustees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Billionaire Warren Buffett serves as the foundation’s third trustee. All three have vowed to give away the vast majority of their wealth.
In the days after the split was announced, a holding company that Bill Gates created transferred equity stakes in four different companies, worth more than $2 billion in aggregate, to Melinda French Gates, Bloomberg News has reported. The bulk of it is from about 14.1 million shares in Canadian National Railway Co.
Days before he died in a New York jail, Epstein named a little-known biotech venture capitalist named Boris Nikolic as backup executor of his will. Nikolic had worked as a science adviser to Bill Gates and more recently funded more than a dozen firms in gene editing and other health technologies.
In an emailed statement at the time, Nikolic told Bloomberg that Epstein had not consulted him about the will and that he had no intention to fulfill the duties.
I had a quick look into this yesterday - quick summary.
It appears that the main intersection between Microsoft and Jeffrey Epstein is "Dr Melanie Walker." Apparently she was in Epsteins inner circle for some time. Then she got involved with Steven Sinofsky (!), who was greatly respected by Bill. She married Steven eventually.
This then lead Bill to get more involved with Epstein. In fact the foundation of Bill's has a few people connected with Epstein - because Dr Melanie Walker when over to the foundation.
I wouldn't be surprised in the end there is some money flows between the various parties involved. The connections are too deep and intertwined for there to be nothing here.
The connection between Epstein and Gates seems fishy, not only because of what Epstein did but because the picture painted of Epstein by some intellectuals was of someone that distilled basically into a "eccentric try-hard". He would spout facts and some shallow philosophical questions around to play up his own intellectuality which was easily picked up by anyone less braindead than he was.
How has Gates endured talking to someone like that through the years? To the point of supporting and aiding people around Epstein? Is it all about money and "philanthropism"?
Such a weird connection to have, I understand that Epstein was connected to a lot of powerful people but Gates is fucking Gates, he can get connected to almost any powerful person just by making a call and stating "Hi, it's Bill Gates calling".
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 26.0 ms ] threadMelinda French Gates began working with divorce lawyers well over a year before her split with Bill Gates was announced last week, partly over concerns about her husband’s dealings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal [0].
The 56-year-old spoke with attorneys from several firms as early as October 2019, saying the marriage was “irretrievably broken,” the Journal reported Sunday, citing documents and people familiar with the matter. Her unease about her ex-husband’s ties to Epstein dates back to at least 2013, the paper said.
The New York Times reported in October 2019 that the billionaire had met with Epstein several times, and once stayed late at his New York townhouse. A spokeswoman for Microsoft Corp. co-founder said at the time that the meetings had centered on philanthropy. Epstein had died in jail two months prior while awaiting trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.
The divorce was negotiated during the pandemic, involving legal teams working with a mediator to divide their fortune, which the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs at $145 billion.
The couple said that they plan on remaining co-chairs and trustees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Billionaire Warren Buffett serves as the foundation’s third trustee. All three have vowed to give away the vast majority of their wealth.
In the days after the split was announced, a holding company that Bill Gates created transferred equity stakes in four different companies, worth more than $2 billion in aggregate, to Melinda French Gates, Bloomberg News has reported. The bulk of it is from about 14.1 million shares in Canadian National Railway Co.
Days before he died in a New York jail, Epstein named a little-known biotech venture capitalist named Boris Nikolic as backup executor of his will. Nikolic had worked as a science adviser to Bill Gates and more recently funded more than a dozen firms in gene editing and other health technologies.
In an emailed statement at the time, Nikolic told Bloomberg that Epstein had not consulted him about the will and that he had no intention to fulfill the duties.
[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/melinda-gates-was-meeting-with-...
Is that a euphemism?
It appears that the main intersection between Microsoft and Jeffrey Epstein is "Dr Melanie Walker." Apparently she was in Epsteins inner circle for some time. Then she got involved with Steven Sinofsky (!), who was greatly respected by Bill. She married Steven eventually.
This then lead Bill to get more involved with Epstein. In fact the foundation of Bill's has a few people connected with Epstein - because Dr Melanie Walker when over to the foundation.
Small world.
A lot of it was covered in the 2019 NYTimes article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...
Steven Sinofky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Sinofsky
Prince Andrews & Dr Maria Walker: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8162637/Prince-Andr...
Dr Maria Walker "given" to Prince Andrews by Epstein: https://www.thedailybeast.com/prince-andrew-was-given-beauti...
Dr. Maria Walker is the first person to introduce Bill Gates to Epstein: https://twitter.com/agenthades1/status/1238583622124179456?l...
More details: https://threader.app/thread/1261934808885866496
I wouldn't be surprised in the end there is some money flows between the various parties involved. The connections are too deep and intertwined for there to be nothing here.
I'm also quite suspicious as to why this has 21 points in new but hasn't surfaced anywhere on the front page.
Was shortly on HN/best. Currently the 99th on HN/active.
How has Gates endured talking to someone like that through the years? To the point of supporting and aiding people around Epstein? Is it all about money and "philanthropism"?
Such a weird connection to have, I understand that Epstein was connected to a lot of powerful people but Gates is fucking Gates, he can get connected to almost any powerful person just by making a call and stating "Hi, it's Bill Gates calling".