Billionaire Bill Gates spoke out about his meetings with now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying they were a “huge mistake.”

During an interview with NBC’s TODAY Show, host Savannah Guthrie noted Gates continued to meet with Epstein even after he became a convicted sex offender.

When asked if he regretted it, Gates replied, “I certainly made a huge mistake not only meeting him in the first place, but I met with him a number of times.”

He continued, “I didn’t realize that the meeting with him almost downplayed the incredibly awful things he did. I’ve learned more about that over time, but I add that to the list of big mistakes.”

Gates went on to tell Guthrie he had a “reason that I thought those meetings would lead to something good but I shouldn’t have done them.”

Check out his comments below:

His ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, was asked about his meetings with Epstein during an interview with CBS News.

“As I said, it’s not one thing, it was many things. But I did not like that he’d had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no,” French Gates said.

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French Gates explained she met with Epstein once because she wanted to “see who this man was.”

She continued, “I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards. So, you know, my heart breaks for these young women, because that’s how I felt, and here I’m an older woman. My god, I feel terrible for those young women. It was awful.”

Additionally, Gates issued a statement to CBS News making similar comments.

“Meeting with Epstein was a mistake that I regret deeply. It was a substantial error in judgement. I remain dedicated to my work at the Gates Foundation in partnership with Melinda, where our focus is to help reduce global inequities, giving every person the chance to live a healthy and productive life,” Gates said.

On August 10, 2019, Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.