https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/21/jeffrey-epst...

Gates addressing their relationship:

https://people.com/bill-gates-addresses-jeffrey-epstein-frie... https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/business/bill-gates-regrets-j...

Articles saying that they met "sometimes for a few hours":

https://pagesix.com/2025/04/15/celebrity-news/melinda-gates-...

Etc etc.

Nothing (as far as I can see, and tbh I'm not going to read past the first page of google results) suggesting that they were close friends in any meaning of the word.

Like, I don't know what kind of conclusion OP wants people to draw out of this. A lot of people were "friends" with Epstein, since he knew pretty much everyone, there are pictures of him smiling and shaking hands with lots of well known VIPs.

Which is why I asked OP for a source so we can just read about this - the whole "do your whole research" thing is just such an easy cop out because like you said "just google" doesn't really confirm anything, it's just a bunch of news articles from more or less reputable sources.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...

"Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past".