Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will appear behind closed doors this Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee as part of the legislative investigation into his ties to the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a case that continues to generate public and political scrutiny due to the financier's connections with influential figures in the business and government world.

The appearance seeks to clarify the nature of the relationship between Gates and Epstein, after the businessman's name appeared in the extensive set of documents released by the Department of Justice in January, made up of millions of pages, photographs and other records related to the investigation.

Among the known materials are references to alleged emails that Epstein sent to himself in 2013, in which he suggested that Gates was having an extramarital affair and was seeking antibiotics to treat a sexually transmitted disease. Gates has categorically rejected those claims.

"Apparently, Jeffrey sent an email to himself. That email was never sent, it's fake. So I don't know what he was thinking. Was he trying to attack me in some way?" the mogul previously stated, insisting that the accusations contained in those messages are baseless.

The businessman has also denied any wrongdoing and has expressed regret for meeting Epstein. “I regret every minute I spent with him,” he stated in previous statements, describing it as “senseless” to have maintained contact with the financier and ensuring that the statements made by him about him were “false.”

Gates has explained that he met Epstein in 2011 and that the two shared several dinners, but he has maintained that he never visited the financier's private island in the US Virgin Islands, one of the places associated with the sexual abuse network for which Epstein was investigated.

The case once again attracted public attention after Melinda French Gates, the businessman's ex-wife, stated that her ex-husband had “issues to explain” regarding her relationship with Epstein. The couple announced their divorce in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and died that same year while in custody in a New York jail. His death was officially ruled a suicide, although the case has remained surrounded by controversy and conspiracy theories. His former collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell was later convicted of helping to recruit and sexually exploit minors.

The congressional investigation is part of a broader effort to review the connections Epstein had with businessmen, politicians and other prominent figures. In this context, various personalities have been called to testify or have been subject to documentary review, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.