A photograph from 2014 shows billionaire Bill Gates with an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein in Gates' Seattle office.
The alleged victim is a woman from Poland who was in her 20s at the time. According to allegations published in The Wall Street Journal, she was recruited, groomed and abused by Epstein and other rich and powerful men – though she hasn't accused Gates of wrongdoing. Epstein reportedly took the photo.
The woman has also been seen in photographs with Woody Allen and former CBS News anchor Charlie Rose:
Looking at the photograph now brings back difficult memories for the Polish model, who was then in her 20s. She notes how young she looks at the time. And how strange she must have appeared to Gates and other famous people that Epstein was escorting her to meet.
“Now when I look at myself there, it couldn't have looked normal,” she said in a recent interview. “I saw the looks of those people, like what is she doing here?”
In July, The Wall Street Journal released a series of reports on the movers and shakers who welcomed Epstein with open arms after his 2008 conviction, including Democratic Party megadonor Reid Hoffman. (RELATED: Epstein Island Visitor Throws Major Cash At Biden's Reelection)
For his part, Gates has struggled to explain his relationship with Epstein.
The Journal continues:
In the years after he registered as a sex offender, Epstein was rarely alone. He was often accompanied by attractive young women in their late teens or 20s. They opened the door at his New York townhouse when billionaires came calling. They sat beside him at meetings with bankers and celebrities. They traveled with him on his private jet to visit scientists, political leaders and tech-company founders. Photos of some of them with Epstein appeared in tabloid newspapers.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal revealed that numerous prominent people had met with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. Many of those people said they believed the convicted sex offender had reformed. Most, including Gates, said they now regret their association with Epstein and that they didn't know Epstein was using those ties in his dealings with the women. A Gates spokeswoman said the software billionaire neither knew nor interacted with the woman that Epstein brought to Seattle.
Yet Epstein took the photo more than six years after he pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution. The disgraced financier received a sweetheart deal, sparing him from a possible life sentence. Besides “overwhelming” evidence, prosecutors had identified no less than 36 alleged victims.
After the Miami Herald published a yearlong investigative report into the non-prosecution agreement, there was renewed outrage over the plea bargain. The Herald interviewed 60 of Epstein's accusers. (RELATED: Billionaire Accused Of Sadistically Abusing Autistic Girl At Epstein's Mansion)
Then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta didn't notify the alleged victims about the agreement. Despite his status as a registered sex offender, Epstein maintained close friendships with politicians, celebrities and royalty.
Acosta defended the agreement, claiming he was told that Epstein “belonged to intelligence,” the details of which were “above his pay grade” and to “leave it alone.”
Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor following Epstein's July 2019 arrest by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force.
On August 10, 2019, corrections officers found Epstein dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan.
Though New York City's chief medical examiner ruled Epstein's death a suicide, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden found the injuries to be more consistent with “homicidal strangulation.”
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