New Delhi: Billionaire philanthropist couple Bill and Melinda Gates announced divorce on May 4 this year, sending shock waves across the globe. Ending their 27 years of marriage, the power couple in a joint statement posted on Twitter said: After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage.

"We can grow together as a couple', but will continue to work together at their foundation that has an endowment of about USD 50 billion", they added. Ever since their separation, rumours of a troubled marriage and allegations claiming Bill Gates's 'affairs' at work have hit headlines. Also, another interesting angle related to the sexual offender and philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein's close connections with Gates has surfaced.

BILL GATES AND JEFFREY EPSTEIN CONNECTION: 

Several international leading dailies such as The New York Times, Business Insider, The Guardian among others have been unravelling stories about Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' marriage troubles. According to The Wall Street Journal report, Melinda wasn't really happy about Bill Gates's meetings with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

The report states that Melinda didn't approve of Bill's dealings with Jeffrey according to the people and a former employee of their charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And her concerns about the relationship dated back to 2013, the former employee told The Wall Street Journal.

For the unversed, Jeffrey Epstein in 2019, was found dead in jail, while awaiting trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.

The New York Times report further reveals that Melinda was meeting her lawyers in 2019 coincided exactly at the same time when Bill met Epstein, including an overnight stay at latter's New York mansion.

Melinda reportedly had warned Bill about his association with a sex offender. However, Bill's spokesperson in 2019 told the Wall Street Journal: “I met him (Jeffrey Epstein). I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him. I didn’t go to New Mexico or Florida or Palm Beach or any of that. There were people around him who were saying, ‘Hey, if you want to raise money for global health and get more philanthropy, he knows a lot of rich people'. Every meeting where I was with him were meetings with men. I was never at any parties or anything like that. He never donated any money to anything that I know about.”

WHO IS JEFFREY EPSTEIN?

Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier and socialite. However in 2005, charges of sexually exploiting a 14-year-old girl surfaced against him and later in 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. He reportedly served 13 months in custody. He was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019, under suspicious circumstances.

BILL GATES AND HIS AFFAIRS: 

Microsoft conducted a probe into co-founder Bill Gates` involvement with an employee almost 20 years ago after it was told in 2019 that he had tried to start a romantic relationship with the person, the company said on Monday. According to Reuters, "a committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern," the statement said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Microsoft`s board had decided that Gates` involvement with the female employee was inappropriate and he needed to step down in 2020, citing people familiar with the matter. The Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on whether the board had decided Gates should go.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for Gates said his decision to leave the board of Microsoft had nothing to do with his involvement with an employee. "There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably. Bill`s decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter," the statement said.

"In fact, he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier." A spokesman for the Gates Foundation told Reuters it stood by the statement to the paper.

The billionaire, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and served as its CEO until 2000, said in March 2020 that he was stepping down from the board to focus more on philanthropy.