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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates pulled out of a keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi after weeks of scrutiny over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Hours before Gates was scheduled to speak on Thursday, Gates' organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, released a statement informing the India AI Impact Summit that he would be pulling his address.
"After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not be delivering his keynote address," the Gates Foundation said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
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The Gates Foundation released a statement saying Bill Gates would no longer be speaking at the India AI Impact Summit. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The foundation's president of Africa and India offices, Ankur Vora, spoke instead of Gates.
The announcement came after the Department of Justice released over 3 million emails related to the Epstein investigation, including Epstein's personal emails. Some of the emails alleged that Gates had affairs and tried to get medication to treat a sexually transmitted infection. He also allegedly wanted to give the medication to his wife at the time, Melinda French Gates, without her knowing.
Gates later said in an interview that he was "foolish" to have spent time with Epstein.
The Department of Justice released millions of emails related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, which included some referencing Bill Gates. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
"I met Jeffrey in 2011," Gates said about his relationship with the convicted sex offender. "So, over a period of three years, I had a number of dinners with him. The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. You know, in retrospect, that was a dead end."
"And I've said many times, but I'll say again: I was foolish to spend time with him. I'm one of many people who regret ever knowing him," Gates added.
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Gates' ex-wife weighed in on the allegations related to her ex-husband and said he needed to answer for them.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in an interview that it was "foolish" of him to spend time with Epstein. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
"Those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need the answer to those things, not me! Well, and I am so happy to be away from all the muck," she said.
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Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
