Bill Gates has spent time at a luxury golf club in California after announcing that he and his wife Melinda are going to separate, Page Six reported, citing an anonymous source. According to the source, the 65-year-old has been at The Vintage Club, which describes itself as "one of the United States' most prestigious and ultra-exclusive private country club communities" for three months, as he clearly saw "the divorce coming", the source said.
Besides the software developer, the golf club also boasts high-profile members such as billionaires Charles Koch, Philip Anschutz, and Dennis Washington.
"It is the perfect place for Bill to hide out from anyone who wants to question him about his divorce or his alleged ties to Epstein", the source told Page Six.
This is where the Microsoft co-founder signed his divorce papers, the media outlet writes.
Gates owns a home on the property of the golf club – a $12.5 million mansion with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, the source told the outlet.
The development comes three days after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Melinda Gates had been consulting divorce lawyers since 2019, with sources saying the couple’s marriage was "irretrievably broken". The media outlet wrote that one source of concern was her husband’s meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, a US financier who was charged with running a sex trafficking network of minors.
Reports say that Epstein, who rubbed shoulders with politicians, celebrities, and even royals, abused young girls and women together with his powerful friends
After a scandal surrounding Epstein broke out in 2019, Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for the software developer, said the two had met to discuss philanthropy.
"Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so", Arnold said in 2019.