Bill Gates apologized this week for his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.

“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein,” he said. “I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made.” Mr. Gates directed his apology to the staff of the Gates Foundation; part of his apology was for bringing Gates Foundation executives into meetings with Epstein.

A lengthy article in the Wall Street Journal details Mr. Gates’s speech, based on a recording of it. He describes his various contacts with Jeffrey Epstein over a period of years, but draws lines regarding some behavior: although he traveled with Epstein, “I never stayed overnight,” or visited Epstein’s island. “I never spent any time with victims, the women around him.”

It seems like a fairly honest apology. He even discloses that he had two extra-marital affairs, that Epstein knew about and tried to use against him. It takes some humility to admit publicly to two extra-marital affairs.

One aspect of a good apology is acknowledging the impact that the offender’s behavior had on the victim. In this case, that would be the Foundation, and Mr. Gates acknowledged that his behavior had a negative impact on the Foundation, which relies on its good reputation to partner with other organizations.

So this seems like a pretty good apology.

This apology was to the Gates Foundation, so he was right to limit his comments to that audience. But it is a little upsetting to read his efforts in the apology to distance himself from the women who were always around Jeffrey Epstein. “To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Gates said. Why not? Does he regret now that he didn’t ask more questions to find out who these women were, what their stories were? He was willing to be photographed with them, but apparently didn’t inquire further, even though it must have seemed strange to have these young beautiful women sitting in quietly on meetings among middle-aged male billionaires. Does Bill Gates also owe an apology to the women who were Epstein’s victims, for his inaction?