More Comes Out On Poor Bill Gates!

I found the photo above, which is pretty well known, in a current Dsily Mail story. The caption to the photo in that story reads,

Bill Gates is pictured at Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2011, from left: James E. Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Epstein; Gates and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's science adviser

It goes without saying that each of the men in that photo is deeply compromised. For instance, Boris Nikolic, identifed as the Gates foundation science adviser, seems actually to have been Epstein's man:

Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender, signed a will detailing nearly $600 million in assets just two days before he killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell. In the will, he named biotech venture capitalist Boris Nikolic as “successor executor,” the person who would take control of the estate if the two named executors are unable or unwilling to.

Nikolic, 49, said in a statement that he was “shocked” that he was included.

Shocked, shocked. The story goes on to suggest, though, that Nikolic had ongoing ties with JPMorgan, presumably via the Morgan executive in the photo. I looked up James E Staley, identified as Jes Staley on Wikipedia, who has had a career peppered with sudden resignations, questions of scandal, and conflict of interest, especially in the 2010s as he became more closely associated with Epstein. According to Wikipedia,

On October 26, 2015, the Daily Mail published an article exposing that Jeffrey Epstein had threatened the UK Parliament [clarification needed] unless it accepted his pick of Jes Staley for the role of CEO of Barclays. The Times stated that Epstein sent emails to the Treasury Select Committee, which were then leaked to the Daily Mail. Freedom of Information requests were subsequently sent to Parliament. The Treasury Select Committee has declined to put the emails into the public domain.

Staley did become CEO of Barclays, but his tenure there has been clouded. Again accourding to Wikipedia,

In February 2020 the FCA announced an investigation into whether Staley was "fit and proper" to lead Barclays, due to concerns over his previous disclosures of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Staley told Bloomberg TV that "The investigation is actually focused on transparency, and whether I was transparent and open with the bank and with the board with respect to my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein." Staley told colleagues that he expects to leave Barclays by the end of 2021 and could step down at the annual meeting in May 2021.

Recent stories stress that Epstein had already pled guilty to felony charges in connection with his activities in 2008, but he was somehow able to rehabilitate himself with at least some of the elite almost immediately -- though it's hard not to surmise that those would have been among the most corruptible. Current stories suggest the photo above with Epstein, Gates, Nikolic, and Staley was in connection with a pitch by Epstein for some kind of philanthropic fund involving JPMorgan and the Gates foundation -- but Staley left Morgan after 30 years in 2013. Was Epstein involved in Staley's career thereafter? Can't rule it out.

But of course, the most interesting guy in that photo at the moment is Gates. According to the Daily Beast, Gates began meeting with Epstein extensively at Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2011, around the time of the photo.

Bachelor sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein gave Bill Gates advice on ending his marriage with Melinda after the Microsoft co-founder complained about her during a series of meetings at the money manager’s mansion, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Gates used the gatherings at Epstein’s $77 million New York townhouse as an escape from what he told Epstein was a “toxic” marriage, a topic both men found humorous, a person who attended the meetings told The Daily Beast.

. . . The people familiar with the matter said Gates found freedom in Epstein’s lair, where he met a rotating cast of bold-faced names and discussed worldly issues in between rounds of jokes and gossip—a “men’s club” atmosphere that irritated Melinda.

So it sounds as if the photo above could just as easily have been taken in a break from one of the "men's club" sessions involving Staley and Summers as well as Gates. I would bet that a list of other regulars wouldn't be hard to develop. Clearly this relationship has been problematic for Staley, and the potential problem for Gates is reflected in a statement from Gates's spokesperson farther down in the story:

A representative for Bill Gates told The Daily Beast: “Your characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate, including who participated. Similarly, any claim that Gates spoke of his marriage or Melinda in a disparaging manner is false.”

The spokesperson disputed the number of times Epstein and Gates met and said the two men never discussed Epstein getting involved with the foundation.

“Bill never received or solicited personal advice of any kind from Epstein— on marriage or anything else. Bill never complained about Melinda or his marriage to Epstein.” A representative for Melinda did not respond to a request for comment for this report.

The normal excuse for prominent figures like Bill Clinton caught hobnobbing with Epstein is that they "discussed philanthropy", and there was nothing involving underage nymphets. But Gates's attorney-flack takes it one step further -- they didn't even discuss philanthropy, and maybe the meetings didn't even take place, sort of.

Sounds to me as though Bill needs to give Melinda every penny of what she wants. But hey, stay tuned!