How Jeffrey Epstein ingratiated himself with top Microsoft executives

BUSINESS / Tech

How Jeffrey Epstein ingratiated himself with top Microsoft executives

A photo, released by the U.S Department of Justice in the Epstein files, shows Jeffrey Epstein, center, at his Manhattan mansion in 2011. Pictured, from left: James E. Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive; former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Jeffrey Epstein; Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder; and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s science adviser. | U.S Department of Justice / via The New York Times

By Erin Griffith and Karen Weise
The New York Times

Feb 26, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft was in turmoil in 2011. The company had whiffed on smartphones and internet search engines. Steve Ballmer, the CEO, was under pressure, and there was talk of replacing him.

In the middle of the maneuvering was Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein received updates on the hunt for Microsoft’s new CEO from company insiders and offered them play-by-play advice, according to the latest release of documents from the U.S. Justice Department detailing the financier’s life before he was jailed in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges.