A House committee investigating the Epstein files has asked Bill Gates , billionaire Leon Black and Goldman Sachs’s departing general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler to testify on their ties to the deceased sex offender.
Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chair of House Oversight Committee, sent letters Tuesday to the trio and four other individuals that were in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit. The letters ask each of them to testify before the committee in coming months.
The Oversight Committee has been holding hearings on the Epstein case , including interviewing Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton last week. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, facing questions about his own interactions with Epstein , agreed to testify in front of the committee, Comer said Tuesday.
Lutnick said recently that he visited Epstein’s island once with his family. “I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person. OK?” Lutnick said last month.
Microsoft co-founder Gates recently apologized to staff of the Gates Foundation over his ties to Epstein, admitting it was a mistake to associate with him while insisting he didn’t participate in Epstein’s crimes.
Bill Gates appears with a woman, whose identity has been obscured, in this image from the Epstein estate released by House Oversight Committee Democrats in Washington, D.C., U.S., on December 18, 2025. House Oversight Committee Democrats/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. REDACTED AREA FROM SOURCE.
A spokesperson for Gates said he welcomes the opportunity to appear before the committee. “While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work,” the spokesperson said.
Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management , was one of Epstein’s biggest financial clients . Black stepped down as Apollo’s chief executive in 2021 after an outside law firm hired by Apollo found that he paid Epstein for tax-planning and estate services. Black has said he regretted his association and wasn’t aware of Epstein’s crimes. A spokesman for Black didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Ruemmler said last month that she would resign from Goldman Sachs later this year. That decision came after months of revelations about her ties to Epstein, which had raised concerns inside the bank.
“Ms. Ruemmler welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee,” a spokeswoman for Ruemmler said. “She has done nothing wrong and had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity on his part.”
Ruemmler has maintained that she had a professional relationship with Epstein and shared a client with him. She said that she didn’t represent him or advocate for him, but that he had sought her advice occasionally. She said she regretted ever knowing him and had no knowledge of any new or ongoing unlawful activity on his part.
The Wall Street Journal revealed Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein in 2023 when it reported she was among the powerful people regularly meeting with him in the years after he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com
