Weeks after initially denying allegations of trysts raised in paedophile Jeffrey Epstein files, Bill Gates has admitted having “affairs” with two Russian women in a meeting with staff of the Gates Foundation on Tuesday.

The tech mogul in his confession, however, insisted he did “nothing illicit” during the period of his friendship with the sex offender, a relationship he now describes as “a huge mistake.” 

“I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities,” The Wall Street Journal cited the Microsoft founder as telling his foundation staff. 

He denied having sexual encounters with Mr Epstein’s victims or travelling to the disgraced financier’s private island in the Caribbean.

“To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Mr Gates said. “I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made.”

Mr Gates said he became acquainted with Mr Epstein in 2011, about three years after Mr Epstein had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor and was registered as a sex offender. The Microsoft co-founder said he was unaware of the full extent of Epstein’s crimes at the time.

He admitted his ex-wife, Melinda Gates, warned him about Mr Epstein but he dismissed her concerns at the time.

“To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing,” Mr Gates said.

“Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behavior,” he added.

The tech billionaire said Mr Epstein’s sex crimes ran afoul of everything the Gates Foundation stands for, conceding his ties to the sex offender might damage the organisation’s reputation. 

“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the Foundation and the goals of the Foundation,” he said. “And our work is very reputational sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”