WASHINGTON -- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told US Congress on Wednesday that his extramarital affairs "had nothing to do" with his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein and the late financier tried to blackmail him with information about them.

"Based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities -- in addition to many lies that he layered on top -- to pressure me to re-engage with him," Gates said in a prepared statement before the House Oversight Committee.

Gates said he regretted having any association with Epstein but maintained that he had "never victimized anyone."

"I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home," Gates said.

According to US media reports, Gates first met Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution. The two met multiple times through 2014.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges and was found dead in his jail cell the following month.

According to The Wall Street Journal, more than 1,000 communications related to Gates, his foundation, or people who worked for him were identified in the roughly 3-million-pages of Epstein files released by the Justice Department.

Wednesday's closed-door hearing, in which lawmakers questioned Gates about his interactions with Epstein, is part of the committee's investigation into the Justice Department's handling of cases against Epstein and people connected to him.

The committee has already questioned former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about Epstein. Additional witnesses are expected to testify in the coming weeks.