American tech entrepreneur Bill Gates has apologised to staff at the Gates Foundation over his past ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while maintaining that he did “nothing illicit,” according to media reports. The Microsoft co-founder acknowledged in a town hall meeting that his association with Epstein was a “huge mistake” and said it had cast a cloud over the philanthropic organisation’s reputation. According to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal, Gates told employees during the town hall, “I did nothing illicit… I saw nothing illicit…To be clear, I never spent any time with victims, the women around him.” Gates said that images in the recently released “Epstein files” showing him with women whose faces are redacted were photographs that Epstein had asked him to take with his assistants after meetings. “I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” The Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying.