Bill Gates’ spokeswoman confirms his prior affair with Microsoft employee

In late 2019, Microsoft’s board was apprised of a letter from a Microsoft engineer who claimed that she was involved in a sexual relationship with Bill Gates years earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday evening.

Afterward, Microsoft board members hired a law firm to look into the woman’s accusations and claimed the relationship inappropriate. By early 2020 “some board members decided it was no longer suitable for Mr. Gates to sit as a director at the software company he started and led for decades,” added the Wall Street Journal’s report.

“Mr. Gates resigned before the board’s investigation was completed and before the full board could make a formal decision on the matter,” sources told the Journal.

In a strange turn of events, Gates had just been re-elected to the board in December 2019, three months before his resignation on March 13, 2020.

Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Bill Gates, claimed in a statement, “There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably. Gates’ decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter. In fact, he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier.”

Earlier this month, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, announced divorce after a marriage of 27 years.