Forbes released its 40th annual World’s Billionaires List, and it’s a who’s who of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Since the Department of Justice began releasing records related to the late pedophile on Dec. 19, the rich and famous linked to Epstein have been resigning and publicly apologizing in droves.

Dozens of names on the new 3,428-person Forbes list also came up in the Epstein files, some more than others.

Bill Gates – ranked the 19th richest person in the world with $108 billion — is chief among them.

In emails released by the feds, Epstein claimed the Microsoft co-founder, a frequent visitor to his Upper East Side townhouse, asked for medicine to treat a sexually transmitted disease he caught from “sex with Russian girls.”

Gates, 70, later admitted to flying on Epstein’s private plane and to two affairs with Russian women – and called his friendship with the disgraced financier a “huge mistake.”

He said he did not do or see anything illicit.

Steve Tisch, chairman of the New York Giants and ranked 1,193rd richest in the world with a $2.2 billion fortune, exchanged several eyebrow-raising emails with the sex predator.

They showed Epstein tried to set up the 77-year-old businessman with women, including a “Tahitian” girl named “Emily in 2013, years after Epstein’s first conviction in Florida.

“Working girl?” Tisch replied in one missive. Others referenced “girls” from Ukraine and Russia.

Tisch later claimed they were talking about adult women, and that he regrets associating with Epstein.

Last week, he announced he’s transferring his ownership stake in the NFL franchise to his children.

Virgin founder Richard Branson — 1,504th on the Forbes list with $2.8 billion — lives on a private island in the British Virgin Islands a short 20-minute helicopter ride from Epstein’s “pedo island,” and gushed in emails about Russian girls Epstein brought him.

The pair hung out twice on the 75-year-old English entrepreneur’s Necker Island in 2013, with Epstein bringing girls each time.

Branson was so pleased, he emailed Epstein after the second visit to say, “Any time you’re in the area would love to see you! As long as you bring your harem!”

Here are other billionaires on Forbes’ list with alleged close ties to Epstein:

• Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner, 88, who’s 402nd on the list with $8.8 billion, was one of Epstein’s closest friends and admitted going to his island, which he described as “crummy.” Wexner gave Epstein power of attorney over his finances and has been considered a potential co-conspirator by the feds. He called Epstein a con artist who stole his money.
• Private equity founder Leon Black, 74, the 251st richest person in the world with $12.1 billion, was a frequent guest at the Manhattan home of Epstein, who managed his money. He was accused of sexual abuse at Epstein’s mansion, and of allegedly colluding to “silence and destroy” victims, allegations he’s denied. He stepped down from his firm Apollo in 2021.
• Hedge funder Glenn Dubin, 68, 1,440th on the list with $2.9 billion, flew on Epstein’s private jet, the “Lolita Express,” 21 times, according to flight logs. He and his wife, Eva Dubin, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, were close friends of the pedophile, hosting him at their home and vouching for him in 2009 to his probation officer, saying they were “100% comfortable” with Epstein around their children. Epstein even wanted to marry the Dubins’ 19-year-old daughter, Celina, and make her his teen bride. A family spokesperson dismissed the remark as an “offhand comment” that the Dubins were not aware.
• LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, 58, the 1560th richest with $2.7 billion, visited Epstein’s island in 2014 and joked about sending ice cream “for the girls” as a gift afterwards.
• Hyatt Hotels heir Tom Pritzker, 75, the world’s 677th richest person with $6.2 billion, flew on the Lolita Express and helped arrange a trip to Southeast Asia for Epstein’s girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak in 2018 “to find a new girlfriend for Jeffrey.” He told her, “May the force be with you.” He stepped down as chairman of Hyatt and said he “deeply regrets” his ties to the perv.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, 64, the former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and the 542nd richest person with a family fortune of $7.2 billion, lived next door to Epstein on East 71st Street but claimed he only visited him once in 2005, and got so creeped out by the massage room he never saw Epstein again. It was later revealed Lutnick visited pedo-island in 2012.
• Google co-founder Sergey Brin, 52, the third-richest man in the world with $237 billion, visited Epstein’s island in 2007 and exchanged emails about dinners at Epstein’s townhouse.

Bill Gates admitted having affairs with two Russian women but insisted they were not Jeffrey Epstein’s victims as he apologised to staff over his ties to the disgraced financier during a town hall meeting at the Gates Foundation on Tuesday.

The billionaire told employees it had been a ‘huge mistake’ to spend time with Epstein and to involve foundation executives in meetings with the convicted sex offender, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 

‘I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,’ Gates said, according to a recording cited by the Journal.

The report said he acknowledged having two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later became aware of, but stressed they did not involve any of Epstein’s victims. 

During the town hall meeting, Gates told employees: ‘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.’

‘I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,’ he added. ‘To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him.’

A spokesman for the philanthropic organisation confirmed the Microsoft founder had ‘taken responsibility for his actions’. 

Previously released US Department of Justice documents show Gates met Epstein repeatedly after the financier had served a prison sentence, with discussions said to have centred on expanding Gates’s philanthropic work.

The documents also included pictures of the Microsoft founder posing with women whose faces are redacted. 

According to the Journal, Gates said the images were photos Epstein asked him to take with Epstein’s assistants after their meetings.

Gates said he began meeting Epstein in 2011, several years after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. 

He acknowledged he was aware Epstein had been subject to an 18-month period of travel restrictions but admitted he did not properly scrutinise his background. 

He continued seeing him even after his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, raised concerns in 2013. 

‘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,’ Gates told staff.

He also said he remained in contact with Epstein through 2014, travelled on his private jet and met him in Germany, France, New York and Washington. 

‘I never stayed overnight,’ he added, saying he did not visit Epstein’s private island.

Of his ex-wife, he said: ‘To give her credit, she was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing.’

Gates’s ties to Epstein were widely reported to have been a source of tension in the couple’s marriage. 

Melinda later described Epstein as ‘evil personified’ and said she was deeply uncomfortable with her husband’s dealings with him.

The couple announced their divorce in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage, saying they could no longer ‘grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives’.

The Journal has previously reported that Epstein later threatened Gates over his relationship with Mila Antonova, the Russian bridge player.

Epstein is said to have met Antonova while seeking financial backing for a bridge academy and later paid for her to attend a software coding course. 

In a 2013 email to a senior Gates adviser, Epstein allegedly referred to two women he claimed Gates had been involved with during his marriage, warning they risked ‘becoming overnight sensations’. 

Gates met Antonova at a bridge tournament in 2009, four years before she is said to have met Epstein. 

He also said the nuclear physicist had worked at one of his companies, although it is unclear whether their relationship, which allegedly began in 2010, overlapped with her employment. 

Boris Nikolic, who had links to both Gates and Epstein, was aware of the relationships and later informed Epstein.

A spokesman for the Gates Foundation said Gates held a scheduled town hall meeting with the employees and answered questions on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files.

‘In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,’ they said.

The spokesman also said the Gates Foundation statement acknowledged what the billionaire shared during the town hall meeting and that it was all the foundation would say about the report.

Earlier this month, the organisation said it did not make any financial payments to Epstein or employ him at any time.

The billionaire also pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote last week.

The Gates Foundation, which Gates started with Melinda in 2000 and of which he is chairman, is one of the world’s biggest funders of global health initiatives.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that all of the Epstein files have been released in accordance with with Section 3 of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. 

The Trump administration has been drip-releasing millions of emails, photos and documents relating to the case against disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi included a list of 305 high-profile individuals – including Donald Trump, Bill Gates, and Kim Kardashian – that have showed up in the files published by the Department of Justice.

Her letter to Congress, released on February 14, included the list of people who ‘are or were a government official or politically exposed person’ and were also named ‘in the files released under the Act at least once.’

Federal workers spent countless hours sifting through the data and releasing them in batches across December and January.

The Epstein files have had a cataclysmic impact on society – forcing top-tier businessmen and academics to resign from their posts, triggering high-profile marriages to break, and signaling the downfall of dignitaries like Britain’s Prince Andrew – who was stripped of his royal titles in the collateral damage.  

The names, from politicians like the Obamas to singers like Bruce Springsteen, appear in a ‘wide variety of contexts,’ Bondi and Todd Blanche, her deputy, noted.

Being named in the Epstein files does not assume any guilt or wrongdoing connected to Epstein’s heinous child sex crimes. 

The list published on Saturday included Barbra Streisand, Keir Starmer, Amy Schumer, Jeff Zucker, Benjamin Netanyahu, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher. 

Diana Ross, Melinda Gates, Tucker Carlson, Beyonce, and Meghan Markle are also included in Bondi’s list.

The letter added: ‘No records were withheld or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.’ 

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the Department of Justice is following after Trump signed it into law on November 19, 2025, calls for the public release of all unclassified records relating to Epstein and his convicted madame, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Under the law, the only elements of the files allowed to be redacted are those protecting victims’ identities, active investigation details, and child sexual abuse material.

The FBI estimated that there are more than 1,000 Epstein victims in total.  

In Bondi’s letter on Saturday, she explained that all of the files relating to the law have been released, which have been categorized into nine different sections.

The categories spelled out by the Justice Department are: Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, flight logs or travel records, individuals named in connection with Epstein’s criminal activities, details on corporate, nonprofit, academic or governmental entities with ties to Epstein, immunity deals involving Epstein and his associates, internal DOJ communications, all communications relating to the destruction of evidence relating to Epstein, and finally, documentation of Epstein’s detention and death. 

Bondi then explained what has been withheld during the Epstein files release.

The letter stated: ‘The only category of records withheld were those records where permitted withholdings under Section 2(c) and privileged materials were not segregable from material responsive under Section 2(a).

‘As discussed in the Department’s December 19, 2025, and January 29, 2026, letters to Congress (the Prior EFTA Letters), the privileges that applied to the withheld records were deliberative-process privilege, work-product privilege, and attorney-client privilege.’

Section 2(c) allows the withholding of information that may detriment victim privacy, child sexual abuse material, an active investigation, graphic content, or national security. 

It then reiterated that no records were withheld or redacted to spare high-profile individuals from ’embarrassment.’

Bondi’s letter on February 14 was sent to Congress as part of a requirement related to the Act. She was ordered to inform and update them within 15 days of completing the release of all the files. 

Todd Blanche said on February 1 that there is a small number of documents that are pending approval from a judge to be released from the files.

But apart from that, ‘this review is over,’ Blanche told ABC News. 

He said: ‘We have released – there are a small number of documents, as I said on Friday, that we’re waiting for a judge to say we can – we’re allowed to release because of a protective order. 

‘But there are – this review is over. I mean we reviewed over six million pieces of paper, thousands of videos, thousands – tens of thousands of images. Which is what the statute required us to do.’ 

As part of the final drop on January 30, the US Department of Justice published a tranche of over three million files.

More than 180,000 images and 2,000 videos – or 14 hours of footage – were included in the release, giving the public a glimpse into the sordid operation the serial pedophile ran.

The files show how the disgraced financier solicited explicit, self-filmed from young women as a matter of habit, with several of the clips featuring girls in a state of undress.

In many, the young women are seen performing sexual acts in their bedrooms, often featuring the same large teddy bear in frame.

In one video, the pedophile is seen forcibly exposing an unidentified woman’s breasts to the camera, despite multiple attempts from her to remove his hands away.

Also released in the files were several pornography films the American millionaire presumably downloaded onto his personal computer, including a vintage video entitled ‘Tiny Bubbles’, featuring Japanese adult entertainer Azari Kumiko.

Epstein also made young girls perform in semi-clothed catwalk auditions, lending evidence to the theory that the financier lured victims into his control by masquerading as a Victoria’s Secret talent scout.

Other disturbing clips show Epstein dancing alongside potential victims, as well as him enjoying private ‘entertainment’ by unclothed young females in a red-paneled study in his Paris home.

Several of the disturbing clips showing young girls stripping in their bedrooms seem to feature the same stuffed animal – a large, brown teddy bear.

The Daily Mail has edited the footage to further conceal the victims’ identities, in addition to the redactions already put in place by the DOJ.

Other heinous parts of the files include emails between Epstein and his associates – alluding to alleged victims being abused, and the young ages of the girls in the financier’s orbit.

One of the earliest such email redactions, chronologically, came on April 24, 2009, when Epstein sent an email to an associate saying: ‘where are you? are you ok I loved the torture video.’

The unnamed person, replying from their BlackBerry, wrote: ‘I am in china I will be in the US 2nd week of may.’

Epstein responded: ‘Hope to see you.’ 

Another controversial redaction features in a 2014 email in which the sender, whose identity is protected, told Epstein: ‘Thank you for a fun night… Your littlest girl was a little naughty.’

That email was sent on March 11, 2014, from an iPhone to Epstein’s account jeevacation@gmail.com.

Everything in the email is readable except for the name of the sender, which is covered with two black bars.

The email was sent six years after Epstein was jailed for procuring a minor for prostitution. 

On March 19, 2018, another redacted associate sent Epstein an email saying: ‘I found at least 3 very good young poor but we was so tired. I will cover up this week. Meet this one, not the beauty queen but we both likes her a lot.’

The files also contained a draft indictment from 20 years ago, which was drawn up before Epstein obtained a lenient 2008 plea deal for sex crimes in which he served 13 months.

The 56-page draft indictment listed three people as co-conspirators employed by Epstein, but their names are redacted.