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(NEW YORK) -- On prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, bettors can put money on dozens of election-related bets in Maryland, from the winner of the upcoming gubernatorial race to the margin of victory in the state's 6th Congressional District. 

For most Americans, the Maryland elections are fair game -- races in the state are already generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in trading volume on the major prediction markets. But not for residents of Maryland, which is one of a handful of states that ban election betting. And Jared DeMaranis, the state's election administrator, plans to enforce it. 

"If we have credible information about illegalities and it's not within our civil citation authorities, we will of course refer those matters to the office of the state prosecutor for enforcement," DeMaranis told ABC News. "This is going to be a growing issue and something that we need to stop in its infancy." 

Federal regulators and the courts have given Americans the green light to wager on elections, prompting a frenzy of wagering on the outcomes of races, the likelihood of candidates dropping out, the amount of voter turnout, and more. But more than half of U.S. states have existing laws on the books that limit or restrict the practice, according to research from the Pew Research Center -- and now state leaders are sorting out how exactly to enforce those rules. 

Maryland, Texas and Arizona are among those states with laws explicitly banning election betting. And in Wisconsin, residents cannot cast ballots in elections in which they have placed a "bet or wager depending upon the result of the election," according to state law. 

Ann Jacobs, the chair of the Wisconsin Election Commission, said Wisconsinites who bet on an election and then vote in it could have their vote challenged or face voter fraud charges. Jacobs acknowledged that it would be a difficult rule to enforce, but stood by the spirit of the law. 

"The policy behind saying, 'You can bet or you can vote, but you can't do both,' is 100% a sound policy," Jacobs said. "We want people to vote based on their belief that the person they are voting for is going to be the best for their community ... it just makes sense." 

Arizona officials have focused their efforts on the platforms themselves. The state's attorney general filed criminal charges against Kalshi earlier this year claiming the platform operated an illegal, unlicensed gambling business and accepted unlawful wagers from Arizona residents.

In April, a federal judge blocked Arizona from continuing its criminal case. The injunction followed a lawsuit against the state by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission -- the federal regulator overseeing prediction markets -- which argued that prediction markets fall under federal oversight rather than state gambling regulations.

The Arizona attorney general's office declined to comment on the active case or how it will address potential election betting this season. 

Officials in Texas, another state with a law banning election betting, did not respond to inquiries from ABC News. But Christopher McGinn, the executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, said he and other administrators are engaged in early discussions about how to handle prediction markets, particularly the likelihood that individuals with a financial stake in the outcome of an election may have "more incentive to attempt to manipulate [elections], or spread misinformation."

Prediction market advocates believe election-related event contracts strengthen political forecasting and can predict outcomes with greater accuracy than traditional polls. But many election experts warn that election wagering could threaten to compromise the integrity of elections or incentivize offenders to profit from insider information. 

"I can't think of all of the ways that people might try to make money off of election outcomes, but I'm sure there are enterprising people who will come up with all kinds of things," said Rick Hasen, an expert in election law at the University of California-Los Angeles. "We don't want to start thinking of elections as a financial incentive. The potential for manipulation is too great." 

Legalized election betting in the U.S. is a new phenomenon. In 2024, Kalshi prevailed in a lawsuit that allowed it to offer event contracts for politics and elections. More recently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed new rules that classified elections "as contests, not gaming," further clearing the way for platforms to offer election-related wagers. 

Those developments present state officials with a challenge: How can they enforce state-level bans on election betting without support from federal regulators or the platforms themselves? The answer for some, including Maryland, is to pursue the individuals. 

"Right now, it's on the person. The person that places the wager on the platform is doing the illegality," said DeMaranis, the Maryland elections chief, adding that lawmakers will eventually "need to clarify the role of those platforms to make sure they're liable for offering monetary incentives on elections." 

Matthew Wein, a former Homeland Security official, said a similar dynamic emerged with social media giants over the past decade. In the absence of a crackdown on platforms, authorities were left to pursue users "for doing things they shouldn't have been doing on the platforms, but not against the platforms themselves." 

"And this seems to be heading in the same direction with prediction markets," said Wein, who now authors a gambling newsletter called "Secure Stakes." 

A Polymarket spokesperson said states with election betting bans "run counter to the established framework for regulating prediction markets."

"We look forward to addressing these claims through the appropriate legal process," the spokesperson said.

A Kalshi spokesperson said the company's services are "federally regulated and have stock-market-grade systems for identifying and addressing market manipulation." 

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., lawmakers continue to scrutinize prediction market platforms. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., have introduced legislation that would prohibit event contracts on election outcomes, which they said "spreads civic cynicism and distrust in our democratic institutions." 

DeMaranis said he has struggled to instill a sense of urgency among the nation's election officials, many of whom he said have never heard of prediction markets.

The effort, he said, has left him feeling like the "canary in the coal mine." 

"It's about the integrity and public trust of the electoral process," DeMaranis said. "When you have people that are engaging in election-related wagering, the integrity of the entire process now comes into question." 

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump has called for the Department of Justice to "immediately start looking into" oil companies as he accused them of price gouging and not lowering the "price at the pump" fast enough in a message on social media.

“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged.’”

“I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this,” Trump continued. “Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”

A DOJ spokesperson responded to Trump's post, telling ABC News that "The price of fuel is not only a national security issue, it impacts  the wallet of every American. We will always commit to ensuring affordability in this nation."

Trump’s call for the investigation comes amid reports of ships beginning to move oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) through the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices have continued to lower recently as peace talks between the United States and Iran have been taking place. U.S. oil is trading at $70.13 a barrel -- down 4.18% -- and global oil is trading at $73.74 -- down 4.28%. Oil is now close to where it was before the war began -- U.S. oil ended at $67 a barrel the Friday before the war started.

The Treasury's move allowing more Iranian oil onto the market until Aug. 21 and reports there was more traffic in the Strait of Hormuz are helping push oil prices lower.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas is $3.90, down 9 cents from last week’s average, according to GasBuddy.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said Sunday that oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is "already back to normal" after the U.S. and Iran signed a preliminary agreement to reopen the critical waterway while negotiators spend the next two months trying to work out yet-to-be-resolved nuclear issues.

"I'm long out of the business of predicting oil or gasoline prices, but they will continue to head down. Flows of oil and natural gas through the straits have already returned to normal, and they will continue that way whatever happens with the negotiations with the Iranians," Wright said on ABC News' "This Week." "We've got growing American production, surging production in Venezuela. We've got cooperation with all the other energy producers of the world. So, I think Americans can expect continued declines in energy prices."

U.S. and Iranian leaders signed a memorandum of understanding last week that appears to have broken the monthslong stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway in the Gulf region through which around 20% of the global oil supply normally transits to enter the market.

Energy prices spiked in May, with U.S. gas prices averaging $4.56 per gallon over the month, according to Gas Buddy.

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(HUNT, Texas) -- Camp Mystic, the Christian all-girls sleepaway camp, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, according to court records. 

The Chapter 11 filing comes nearly a year after a deadly flood killed 25 girls and two teen counselors at the camp's Guadalupe River location, which is located in the Texas Hill Country.

According to the Wednesday filing, Camp Mystic has a debt exceeding $10 million. 

Paul Yetter, an attorney representing seven victims' families, said in a statement Wednesday, "Bankruptcy will not stop all responsible parties from being held accountable."

"These innocent girls deserve justice," he added.

In April, Camp Mystic said it had planned to welcome more than 800 girls to its Cypress Lake location this summer before withdrawing its application.

Families of the flood victims and some officials, including Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, had called on the Texas Department of State Health Services to block Camp Mystic's license for the summer.

Patrick contended the camp shouldn't reopen until the flood was fully investigated.

The parents of one of the deceased campers -- 8-year-old Cile Steward, whose body has yet to be recovered after she was swept away in the Guadalupe River -- have also been vocal about the camp not reopening while their daughter remains missing.

Casey Garrett, a Houston attorney hired by the state legislature to investigate the deadly flood, presented a review of the camp's policies in April based on interviews with approximately 150 people, including campers, counselors, the camp's owners and the victims' families.

The attorney said there was inadequate training or drills for counselors and campers regarding a flood threat.

A written report of the investigation's findings is expected later this year, The Associated Press reported.

The Texas Rangers have also opened a criminal investigation of Camp Mystic, Patrick said.

Families of the victims have also filed a lawsuit against the camp.

In a previous statement to ABC News in response to the lawsuits filed by families, Camp Mystic said, "We continue to pray for the grieving families and ask for God's healing and comfort."

Jeff Ray, legal counsel for Camp Mystic, said in a statement, "We intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area."

"We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well. We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course," Ray added.

-ABC News' Olivia Osteen, Meredith Deliso and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) -- Frank Carone, a former chief of staff to ex-New York Mayor Eric Adams, was arrested on Wednesday morning along with his brother Anthony and two others as part of a federal bribery case, according to federal investigators.

While serving as chief of staff, Frank Carone allegedly "agreed to accept a series of bribe payments" as part of a scheme to "exploit the city's migrant crisis for profit," according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court.

In 2022, during the influx of migrants into New York, the city needed to rent entire hotels to accommodate asylum-seekers using emergency contracts.

Frank Carone allegedly accepted $120,000 in bribes from two co-defendants, Crystal Chen and Yan Po Zhu, in exchange for steering a multimillion-dollar emergency contract to a Microtel in Long Island City, Queens, that they controlled, federal prosecutors alleged.

To conceal the bribes, the payments were allegedly funneled through an account that Frank Carone's brother, Anthony Carone, controlled, the indictment said. 

"In total, Zhu and Chen paid approximately $120,000 to F. Carone in exchange for an Emergency Shelter Contract for the Microtel, which was laundered through the Law Firm #2 account by A. Carone and his co-defendants," the indictment said.

The indictment included photographs of Zhu and Frank Carone socializing at Zhu's Long Island home in June 2022, a time when the indictment said Zhu and Chen's efforts to secure an Emergency Shelter Contract through other means were stalling. 

"Zhu leveraged his burgeoning personal relationship with the defendant, Frank V. Carone," the indictment said.

The city ultimately awarded Microtel a nearly $7 million contract, even though it was smaller than another Long Island City hotel under consideration. 

The indictment quoted an unnamed city employee who allegedly "lamented that replacing the professional's staff's recommendations with the Microtel 'meant a loss of 75 units,' which would necessitate opening more locations to make up the difference."

The defendants are charged with 13 counts, including conspiracy, federal program bribery and obstruction. All four defendants pleaded not guilty during a hearing Wednesday and were released on bond with restrictions on travel and communications.

Prosecutor Sara Winik singled out Frank Carone during the hearing.

"Frank Carone was entrusted to run our city government," Winik told the judge, adding that he "put his own status" above his duties, leveraging the need for emergency migrant housing to accept $120,000 in bribe payments. 

Frank Carone was released on a $2 million bond secured by his property in Boca Raton, Florida and cash, records show. 

Frank Carone helped with Adams' transition into office in January 2022 and served as the mayor's chief of staff until December that year, when he departed the administration.

As he departed, he said that in his position it had been an "honor keeping the trains running for this administration," according to a press release at the time.

Arthur Aidala, an attorney representing Frank Carone, said in a statement to ABC News that Frank Carone was notified that he was under federal investigation three years ago and denied the allegations.

"Frank Carone was part of an administration that publicly challenged what it viewed as the previous White House's dangerous immigration policies and their harmful impact on New York City," Aidala said in a statement to ABC News. "Following an extensive three-year investigation that examined numerous aspects of Mr. Carone's personal and professional life, prosecutors ultimately brought these charges."

"Mr. Carone maintains his innocence and looks forward to addressing these allegations through the legal process. He is confident that the facts will demonstrate that he acted lawfully and appropriately at all times," Aidala added.

Attorney information for the other defendants was not immediately available.

Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for former Mayor Adams, said in a statement that his "prayers are with [Carone's] family"

"Frank Carone has dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession, and helping countless individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations throughout New York," he said.

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(NEW YORK) -- The FBI and New York Police Department conducted searches on Wednesday morning at various locations around the city as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption at the nation's largest police department.

The investigation is targeting current and former police executives, sources familiar with it told ABC News.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch issued a statement confirming the searches, saying the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau was working alongside the FBI in executing search warrants "as part of a criminal investigation being pursued by the NYPD, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York."

"The investigation is ongoing and concerns conduct by former and current members of the NYPD," she said.

The investigation is examining, among other things, promotions and assignments and how they were carried out, the sources said. Tisch in her statement did not identify potential suspects or charges.

"When I became Police Commissioner, I promised New Yorkers that under my leadership the NYPD would conduct itself with integrity and that there would be a thorough investigation of any claim that members of service failed to meet that standard," Tisch said. "This investigation and our actions this morning are part of the ongoing effort to fulfill that commitment and hold the Department to its highest ideals."

The investigation was targeting the current chief of Manhattan South, Jimmy McCarthy, who has been placed on modified duty, according to the NYPD. Another target is the department’s former chief spokesman, Tarik Sheppard, sources said.

FBI agents were spotted outside the Brooklyn home of Jeffrey Maddrey, formerly chief of Department, the highest ranking uniformed officer. It was not immediately clear whether Maddrey was a part of the investigation

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Lesley Groff, the former executive secretary of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, attempted to deflect any culpability in Epstein’s crimes, telling lawmakers that she routinely scheduled massages for her boss but never booked appointments for anyone she knew to be underage, according to a House Oversight Committee transcript released Tuesday.

"I never met these women, so I didn't know if they were young or how old they were," Groff said during her appearance earlier this month. "I thought that it was just something that he did, like going to the gym."

Groff, who worked for Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, was previously described by her boss as an "extension of my brain." She appeared as part of the committee's ongoing inquiry into the federal government's handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged accomplices.

Once identified by federal prosecutors as a potential co-conspirator in Epstein's crimes, Groff said she hoped her interview would "dispel the false notions" that she "knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts."

Over the course of an eight-hour interview, Groff faced at times skeptical inquiries from committee members and staff, who questioned how she could have been unaware of Epstein's predilection for sexualized massages, the transcript shows.

"You want us to believe that after 18 years working in the employ of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein that not on one occasion did you believe that any of your contacts in setting up these appointments with Jeffrey Epstein were either a minor or an underage person, correct?" asked Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

"That is correct," Groff replied.

"This strains credulity, Ms. Groff," Krishnamoorthi said.

"Ms. Groff, do you think that a 14-year-old sounds the same as a person in their 20s or 30s or 40s?" asked an attorney for the committee.

"It's possible. I don't know. I was not evaluating voices," Groff replied. "Nobody ever sounded like they were underage."

Groff, now 59, appeared voluntarily for the interview, which was not under oath and not recorded. It marks the first time she has faced questions since speaking to the FBI in New York in 2021, two years after Epstein's death. Later that year, prosecutors informed her that she would not be charged, according to her attorneys.

Groff told the committee that she was hired by Epstein in 2001 and was immediately "astonished by the truly impressive people in his circle," including past presidents, actors, musicians and scientists.  

"I actually felt lucky to have found such an amazing job. I was thrust into the lifestyles of the rich and famous," she said in her prepared opening remarks.

She said Epstein's directive for daily massages was a "very small part" of her duties in coordinating Epstein's schedule. From the moment she was hired, Epstein and his then-partner Ghislaine Maxwell "established guardrails" and made it clear that she was never to associate with their friends.

"Their business was none of my business," she said she was told.

When Epstein came under law enforcement scrutiny in Florida in the mid-2000s -- first by the Palm Beach police and later by the FBI -- Groff said he told her he had been set up for blackmail by a girl who lied about her age.

"It was a shakedown, he claimed, for money," Groff said. "At the time, I actually felt sorry for him. I thought, 'Wow, this must be really difficult to be a wealthy person and not know who you can trust because everybody wants your money.'"

Groff said she first learned of the criminal investigation when the FBI showed up at her home in Connecticut in 2007.

"I let them in my house and sat with them on my sofa, and they started asking me some questions. That's how I found out," she said. "I think my head was probably spinning. I had no idea."

Groff told the committee she excused herself to check on her son and then called Epstein's in-house lawyer about the FBI visit. She said she was advised not to talk to the agents without a lawyer.

"And so I went downstairs and said, 'I don't think I should be speaking to you without an attorney present.' And they didn't really like that, and then they left," she said.

Groff said that after Epstein went to jail in 2008, she considered resigning. She stayed, she said, because she "actually believed he had been set up" and because she saw that the "same VIP's continued to surround" him after his conviction.

"I looked around the office and I felt people smarter than me were still there and stayed there. All his contacts and business people, no one left," she said, according to the transcript.

After Epstein's arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors in New York included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Her attorney informed the government, just four days after Epstein's arrest, that Groff "would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination" if called to appear before a grand jury, according to DOJ records released in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Prosecutors informed Groff's lawyer that "numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused," and that she should consider cooperating with the investigation, according to the DOJ records.

Groff eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that "making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make" for Epstein.

The DOJ files also include an account from a witness -- who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse by Epstein -- who told the FBI that she felt Groff "knew that the massage appointments were sexual" and "felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on." The witness also alleged that she explicitly told Groff she was not 18 years old and needed money for an abortion, according to the FBI report.

Asked by a committee attorney about those allegations, Groff said she felt "terrible for this survivor" but contended the witness's recollections were inaccurate.

"I'm not saying that what she's thinking -- that she told someone -- but she did not tell me," Groff said. "I think she is mistaken. I know she is mistaken."

Groff said that after Epstein was released from jail in 2010, she was never again asked to book a massage appointment for him. She acknowledged she booked travel -- at Epstein's direction -- for women who would later allege to have been sexually exploited. But she contended she had no reason to think the women were being abused.

"I believed them to be traveling assistants, and none of them ever looked unhappy or under duress," she said. "In hindsight, it's terrible, I can't imagine what they were going through."

She said she was not alarmed by now-public email messages from Epstein's associates sharing photographs and information about foreign women -- because of Epstein's connections in the modeling and fashion industries. She conceded that some of the emails released by the Justice Department appear alarming in retrospect, but insisted she had no reason to be concerned at the time.

"I did not know that this was occurring. I never saw anything inappropriate," she said. "Everything to me -- that I was doing, I feel like now, looking through a dirty lens, things look dirty. But at this time, I was unaware of anything that was going on."

Groff said that since Epstein's arrest in 2019, she has struggled to sleep and eat, been the target of harassment and death threats, and been "shunned" by many of her friends and acquaintances.

She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein's controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007, which she said, "remains her scarlet letter."

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(WASHINGTON) -- After Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates tried to end his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender attempted to use compromising information about Gates' extramarital affairs to force his way back into Gates' life -- but never explicitly threatened him, Gates told the House Oversight Committee earlier this month, according to a transcript of the closed-door session released Tuesday.

Gates appeared before the panel on June 10 as part of its ongoing probe into the government's handling of its investigations into Epstein.

Gates, according to the transcript, said Epstein used an adviser to send him "veiled" threats, appeared to coach Gates' adviser on how to potentially blackmail him, and mixed fact and fiction to leverage compromising information against the software billionaire.

"I was not blackmailed, but, you know, as you look at these emails, you know, it looks like Mr. Epstein's brainstorming was going in that direction," Gates said about materials from the Epstein files released earlier this year by the Department of Justice. "It appears that in many cases he, at least in emails to himself, was sort of rehearsing how either he or he coaching someone else might choose to blackmail me, but none of those messages were ever sent to me."

During the interview, Gates acknowledged having at least three extramarital affairs, though he said that Epstein was involved with none of the women and that Epstein only learned about them after he and Epstein had cut ties.

The testimony offers a rare window into how Epstein allegedly tried to use compromising information to manipulate at least one powerful public figure. The Department of Justice said last year it found no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.

Gates told lawmakers that his interactions with Epstein were limited to business, that he never witnessed Epstein commit a crime, and that he did not suspect that the women who were traveling with the disgraced financier were victims of sex trafficking. Asked about photos showing him with some of Epstein's victims, Gates said Epstein occasionally asked to take photographs of Gates with women who Gates said he believed were Epstein's assistants.

"I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated," Gates told lawmakers.

Gates told the Oversight panel that he first began to meet with Epstein in 2011 because he thought the financier's purported connections with the wealthy could help advance the Gates Foundation's global health work. When they first began to meet, Gates said he was aware of Epstein's "bad reputation stemming from his criminal conviction," but continued to see Epstein.

"I was aware that he had a criminal conviction," Gates said. "I knew that it was of a sexual nature, but, no, I don't think I knew, dug into the specifics, although I probably should have."  

Gates said he only became aware of the full extent of Epstein's crimes in 2018 after the Miami Herald's in-depth reporting on Epstein's lenient deal with federal prosecutors.

Gates said he thought the other high-profile individuals with whom Epstein socialized helped create an "image of legitimacy," acknowledging that his own relationship with Epstein likely bolstered that image.

"I was so focused on the possibility of raising funds for global health that I allowed that goal to override my better judgment," Gates said. "If the time I spent with Epstein lent him credibility, I am deeply sorry. I've learned a significant lesson and am now far more careful about who I engage with, even in a limited capacity."  

Describing Epstein as a "dilettante" with a surface-level knowledge of science and academics, Gates said that Epstein suggested he "provided advice to lots of billionaires" who might be able to advance philanthropic causes.

"He talked about Wall Street billionaires, he talked about Middle East billionaires. He made it sound very extensive ... maybe for me to have a good impression of him," Gates said.

While Gates insisted that his meetings with Epstein "weren't social," he recounted that some of those dinners involved "wide ranging discussion" with academics and bankers, including one dinner that included entertainment from magician David Blaine. Gates also said that Epstein repeatedly invited him to his private island, as well as an erotic show in Paris -- invites that Gates said he refused.

According to Gates, his science adviser claimed they could likely go backstage to meet some of the performers that Epstein had dated, but Gates said he did not want to be spotted at an erotic show with Epstein.

"It wasn't consistent with the relationship I had with Epstein," Gates said. "I guess not only is my appearing at an erotic event a risk to my reputation, it would be compounded by appearing with somebody who, although I didn't know the full extent of it, had been convicted of a sexually related crime."

After occasionally meeting with Epstein for about three years, Gates said he began to express concerns that Epstein was "stringing" him along with his claims that he could deliver "meaningful philanthropic support." According to Gates, Epstein set up a series of meetings in 2014 with high-profile individuals including hotel billionaire Thomas Pritzker, media billionaire Mort Zuckerman, and private equity investor Leon Black to demonstrate his connections to purportedly help Gates' philanthropy work, though Gates said the meetings were a "dead end."

"At that point, I concluded Epstein would never deliver on his promises. I told him we would go no further and stopped communicating or meeting with him," Gates told the panel.  

After Gates tried to cut ties with Epstein in 2014, he said the disgraced financier attempted to force his way back into his life, including by leveraging his knowledge of Gates' extramarital affairs.

While Gates said he never disclosed the affairs to Epstein, he speculated that Epstein learned about the indiscretions through his relationship with Gates' science adviser Boris Nikolic. Gates said that Nikolic was aware of the affairs because of their close relationship, including at least one instance when he used meeting with Nikolic as an alibi to rendezvous with one of the women.

"One time it was a scheduling thing, when we were in London, where I said to him I was going to disappear and wanted him to show that I was meeting with him at that time," Gates said.

When Nikolic began the process of leaving the Gates Foundation, he engaged Epstein to help him negotiate the terms of his departure, Gates said. Epstein traveled to Seattle at one point to assist in Nikolic's negotiation, Gates said, and Nikolic eventually began to make "veiled" threats via email.

"It's hard to characterize the Epstein stuff because there was never a direct threat of any kind. There was always this veiled language like 'we should remain friends,' you know, which made me wonder what Dr. Nikolic had shared with him," Gates said.

Asked about two draft emails released by the Department of Justice seemingly written by Epstein on behalf of Nikolic, Gates said the notes -- which vaguely referenced the affairs and suggested that Gates has contracted a sexually transmitted disease -- appeared to be part of a plot to attempt to "blackmail" him.

While Gates acknowledged at least three affairs, he explicitly denied contracting a sexually transmitted disease from the affairs, suggesting Epstein mixed falsehoods with known compromising information to use as leverage.

"If those emails that contained some truth and some false things were ever sent, then we could say there was an attempt at blackmail that never happened," Gates said.

After he severed his relationship with Epstein, Gates claimed that the disgraced financier attempted to force his way back into his orbit, including by seeking reimbursement for money he claimed to have paid a woman with whom Gates had an affair. He told lawmakers that Epstein had nothing to do with the relationship and said he was unaware of any money that Epstein may have paid the woman, telling lawmakers that he believed the requests for payment were a "tactic [for Epstein] to reengage" him.

"I'd never asked him to do anything with respect to the person we're discussing, so I was rather surprised. That was the first time I knew explicitly that he'd become aware of that affair," Gates told lawmakers.

ABC News' John Parkinson contributed to this report.

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(WYOMING) -- Another hydrothermal explosion has occurred at Yellowstone National Park, highlighting the unstable nature of the reserve's extensive volcanic network, the U.S. Geological Survey says.

On June 13, a small hydrothermal explosion occurred at Yellowstone's Biscuit Basin -- a popular thermal area located less than 2 miles northwest of Old Faithful, according to the USGS.

The explosion occurred at 5:09 a.m. local time and did not cause any injuries, according to the USGS. A new pool formed as a result of activity.

Monitoring equipment at Biscuit Basin registered anomalous activity, including seismic activity and infrasound -- a low-signal acoustic signal -- coming from the direction of the Black Diamond Pool, where a hydrothermal explosion occurred on July 23, 2024.

When park rangers went to investigate, they noticed that water in the Firehole River flowing downstream from Biscuit Basin included a light-gray to milky runoff, an "odd" observation, according to the USGS.

A camera installed at the Black Diamond Pool in 2025 recorded a dark-colored stream jetting out of the ground north of the pool. Geologists assessing the activity discovered that large volumes of hydrothermal water had surged into the Firehole River from three sets of newly formed vents in the Black Diamond Pool.

The vents allowed pathways to the surface for water measuring at or slightly above boiling temperatures. As the water converted to steam, it triggered a hydrothermal explosion, the USGS said.

One of the vents was found to be a crack to the north-northwest of the pool measured about 61 feet long and 5 feet wide in some places. The crack was surrounded by several rocks that had been ejected during the explosion. Another linear vent located to the northeast measured about 49 feet long.

The water measured between 185 degrees and 200 degrees Fahrenheit, the USGS said.

Days after, geologists found that a new pool containing "vigorously" boiling water -- described as gray in color and full of silt -- had formed near the middle of the vent group.

The pool likely formed as a result of collapse of the land beneath it.

Camera observations taken on June 18 showed intermittent episodes of spouting within the pool. Some of the water spouts reached between 20 feet and 30 feet, geologists said. When not displaying geyser-like activity, the pool was actively boiling.

The explosion emphasizes the unstable and hazardous nature of hydrothermal activity in the region, the USGS said.

No one was impacted by the latest incident because Biscuit Basin has been closed since the 2024 explosion.

Temporary seismic monitoring stations have been installed within the basin to record signals related to the evolution of the newly formed vents, the USGS said.

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