Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was photographed posing with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers, part of the well-connected sex offender’s use of photographs to manipulate the women he abused and control the narrative around his nefarious behavior, according to a new report.
The photo, believed to be one of the first to show Gates with an alleged Epstein victim, was allegedly taken by the shady financier himself in Gates’ Seattle office in March 2014, years after Epstein’s conviction. in 2008 in Florida for soliciting and recruiting a minor for prostitution. The Wall Street Journal reported.
In the image, published by the Journal Sunday, Gates is seen smiling and fiddling with the zipper of his dark quarter-zip sweater while a woman identified as a Polish model, then in her 20s, stands next to him with a gray jacket and blue scarf with his chest almost pressed against him.
The woman, whose face was hidden in the published photo, told the Journal that she met Epstein, a registered sex offender, months before the photo was taken and then he quickly began showering her with promises that he could help her in her career with its powerful connections. .
There are at least three other photos purportedly showing Gates with Epstein’s accusers, the Journal reported, saying it reviewed images of a Russian model who claims to have been abused by Epstein posing with the tech titan at places like the Four Seasons Hotel. in New York City and Epstein’s hotel. Townhouse on the Upper East Side.
Gates, 68, was not the only prominent figure to appear in newly surfaced photos with alleged victims of Epstein, who hanged himself in his Manhattan cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was photographed with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers in March 2014. ZUMAPRESS.com
The Polish model was also photographed alongside director Woody Allen at Epstein’s home, with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud in 2014 and with former CBS News journalist Charlie Rose, among others, according to the Journal.
The model did not accuse Gates or any of the other men of sexual misconduct.
But her lawyers told the Journal that, even without her knowledge, Epstein was using her powerful connections to promote his alleged sex trafficking operation.
“Without having legitimate connections to so many high-powered people, Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to traffic most of these women after 2008,” said Brad Edwards, who along with his law firm partner Brittany Henderson represents the model already. more than 150 of Epstein’s accusers.
The photo was taken six years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting and recruiting a minor for prostitution. New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File
“He used the powerful people he was associating with to further facilitate his sex trafficking scheme, whether those people knew it or not,” Henderson added. “He was using everyone around him to create this façade of legitimacy.”
Several Epstein accusers have previously been seen in photographs with powerful men, including the now infamous photo of Britain’s Prince Andrew with his arm around the bare abdomen of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, then 17, with convicted Mrs. Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell . smiling in the background.
Another photo shows former President Bill Clinton receiving a massage from Epstein’s former employee and accuser Chauntae Davies during a trip aboard Epstein’s private jet, known as the “Lolita Express.”
In the cases of the Polish and Russian models, Epstein stockpiled images of the young women with business leaders and other prominent men, telling them that the snapshots could advance their careers, but then used those images to support his narrative of being powerfully connected, that he in turn tended to attract more victims, the Journal reported.
Gates posing with Epstein in the sex offender’s Manhattan apartment in 2011.
The models told the newspaper that Epstein would pressure them to post the images on their social media accounts and then make promises that they would get work through those connections.
But those promises almost always failed in the end.
For the Polish model, Epstein’s endless line of promises ended with an offer to be the mistress of one of his friends, which he said could make her millions, she told the newspaper.
She turned down the offer shortly before escaping to Poland in 2015, only for Epstein to use her photo with Gates to try to lure her back.
He sent her the photo in March 2015, telling her that instead of the life he used to live, “you are now back in your room as you only follow your own advice,” the report said.
“My impression is that becoming a lover was the only job offer you really took seriously,” he wrote to her a few months later. “Meeting Gates or Woody was great, thank you, I’ll never forget it, although no one hires me just because I have good photos with them.”
Gates previously admitted and expressed regret for having several meetings with Epstein in the 2010s, following Epstein’s conviction in Florida in 2008, as part of fundraising efforts for the Gates Foundation.
A representative for Gates reiterated that the businessman and philanthropist “only met with Epstein for philanthropic purposes, which he regrets.”
“Epstein attempted, unsuccessfully, to connect with Mr. Gates by any means possible, including spontaneously bringing people over to take photos with Bill, whom Bill did not know or interact with anymore,” the spokesperson said.
Prince Andrew with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell. Justice Department
Allen, in a statement to the Journal, said he was never aware that Epstein was using Allen’s name to manipulate victims.
“At no point did he ask me to cast anyone in a movie, and I never did,” the director said.
Representatives for Wexner, whose fortune Epstein managed for years before being charged with sex crimes in 2006, said the billionaire “cut all ties with Epstein in 2007 and never spoke to him again.”
Epstein pictured with former President Bill Clinton.
Epstein constantly met with new potential victims to lure them into his web of lies and abuse, often targeting young women from Russia and Eastern Europe who had a history of sexual abuse.
Many would receive stacks of cash from Epstein, guarantees that their visas would be taken care of, that he would pay for their education in the United States or that they would be put up in apartments near his home, the Journal reported.
Soon, however, they were flown to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, where they would be forced to spend their days naked, according to the report.
He would advise some to abandon their modeling goals and consider massage therapy, which he had them practice with him.
It was during those massage sessions that Epstein often began his sexual assaults, according to his alleged victims.
“He knew they weren’t going to report him because they were trained not to report abuse,” Henderson, the victims’ attorney, told the Journal, adding that Epstein engaged in “insidious mental manipulation” that exploited his insecurities and past to control them.
The Russian model told the newspaper that Epstein constantly harassed her about her weight; Sometimes she would tell him that she needed to lose weight and then she would tell him that she needed to gain it back, even though she was about 5 feet 10 inches tall and only weighed 130 pounds.
“There was always something about my body that wasn’t right.”
Even as his promises of help turned to abuse, Epstein was leaving a paper trail seemingly intended to reinforce the image he had created of himself as an advocate for women looking for their big break.
Epstein walking with Woody Allen in 2013 in Manhattan. Elder Ordóñez / SplashNews.com
He demanded written thank-you notes from women every time he did something for them, the Russian model told the Journal, and forced them to smile while he took nude photos and filmed them.
“It was almost like he was documenting everything so we couldn’t go against him,” the woman said.
“If you’re not smiling and positive, I was going to give you a talk, because then you’re acting ungrateful,” he added. “And those letters of gratitude, I’m sure he was using them as further assurance that we wouldn’t go against him.”
No matter how much they thanked him or what they did for him, Epstein’s promises always fell flat.
“After a couple of years in the JE circle, neither of us had anything legitimate to add to our resumes and none of the jobs he promised materialized,” the Russian model said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn