Jessica Mendoza

Indeed.

Another document from Gates' team suggested that the production company do more filming and editing, and offered to pay for it.

Spokespeople for Netflix and the production company Tremolo said they had no knowledge of Gates or his team paying for any part of the documentary.

A Netflix spokesperson said Netflix retained final cut and creative approval of the series.

If the 2024 documentary was an attempt by Gates' team to look ahead, the Justice Department's trove of Epstein files was about to dig up the past.

In January, the DOJ released millions of documents from its investigation of Epstein.

As these details have spilled into public view, they've begun eroding the careful efforts by Gates' team to protect his reputation.

The DOJ's latest release of the Epstein files revealed a relationship between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein that was far more complex than what Gates and his team had been presenting.

So what kind of details do we know now about their relationship?

Right, which is at odds with what he said about only being in rooms with men, which was what he said in his quote to The Wall Street Journal in 2019.

A Gates spokesperson said he wasn't involved in any illegal activities with Epstein and acknowledged it was a mistake to have met with him.

Internally, employees across Gates' organizations were increasingly troubled by what was coming out about him in the Epstein files.

So in February, Gates decided to address the issue at a Gates Foundation town hall meeting.

At the town hall, Gates said the situation was, quote, opposite of the values of the foundation.

He also acknowledged two affairs with Russian women that had come up in the files.

How much of a turning point was this town hall for Gates?

Even as Gates and his team fought to handle concerns about him internally, frustrations with Gates were spilling out externally.

Earlier this year, Bill Gates goes on this big trip to India.

In India, Gates was meant to deliver a keynote speech at a major AI summit that involved tech leaders and heads of state, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

So all very public.