A March 2026 Fortune investigation reported that Melanie Walker — a Gates Foundation neuroscience programme officer and personal physician to Gates — and Steven Sinofsky, a former Microsoft executive and close Gates associate, had maintained contact with Jeffrey Epstein beyond the period Gates claimed the relationship had ended. Walker, who had met Epstein as a student in 1992 and remained close to him, attended Epstein events through at least 2017; Sinofsky had exchanged emails with Epstein as late as 2018. The story added to scrutiny of the breadth of Gates's social circle's ties to Epstein.