An independent investigation has cleared the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of any involvement in the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who sought to establish a relationship with Bill Gates. The law firm WilmerHale was hired to conduct the review, focusing exclusively on the foundation’s operations but not on Gates’s personal interactions with Epstein.

The inquiry, which included interviews with approximately 50 current and former foundation employees and officers, found no evidence that the foundation had knowledge of or participated in Epstein’s sex trafficking activities. Investigators also stated that the foundation was unaware during the relevant period that Epstein had used its name to further his illicit conduct, and there was no indication that Epstein was compensated by the foundation.

However, the review was limited in scope. WilmerHale acknowledged in a footnote that it did not have access to Gates’s personal communications with Epstein, nor did it examine interactions between Epstein and Gates’s private office, Gates Ventures. Some employees of Gates Ventures had contact with Epstein, according to court documents released earlier by the Justice Department. Consequently, the report does not address Gates’s personal dealings with Epstein beyond his foundation role.

According to the executive summary released by the foundation on Tuesday, Gates and other senior staff met with Epstein about 30 times between 2011 and 2014, discussing, among other matters, Epstein’s proposal to establish a donor-advised fund. The investigators noted that Gates was aware of Epstein’s prior criminal conviction related to sex offenses and was conscious of the reputational risks involved at the time these meetings occurred.

Gates has consistently maintained that his engagement with Epstein was limited to exploring philanthropic opportunities and has described this association as a misjudgment. The foundation emphasized that the findings might alleviate some internal concerns, particularly following recent public scrutiny and the circulation of documents that fueled controversy about Epstein’s connections.

In response to the report, the Gates Foundation announced it would implement new governance measures, including enhanced vetting procedures and increased oversight of individuals who work concurrently for Gates’s personal ventures and the foundation. Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and head of the foundation, called the completion of the investigation “an important step in providing the clarity that partners, employees and grantees deserve.”