Posts falsely link email in Epstein files to Covid conspiracy

"Was the pandemic that deceived the whole world planned in advance? The 'secret email' message that Bill Gates and Epstein exchanged three years before the arrival of the coronavirus," reads part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post sharing an image of the duo on February 5, 2026.

"In particular, a secret email exchange that took place in 2017 between Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the notorious Jeffrey Epstein has not come to light. Would you believe it if I told you that three years before the coronavirus vaccine, they talked about a 'pandemic simulation?'"

The caption continues: "March 3, 2017. That's exactly one day short of three years before the word 'Covid-19' would be heard by the world. On that day, Jeffrey Epstein sent a very important email message to Bill Gates' team. The subject line read: 'bgc3 deliveries and scope.'"

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Screenshot of a Facebook post captured on February 23, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

Similar claims spread elsewhere on Facebook.

On January 30, 2026, the US Justice Department released more than three million pages from its investigation into Epstein, a wealthy US financier who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls (archived link). 

The release highlighted his extensive ties to political and business elites. Gates is among the prominent names appearing in the documents.

The billionaire admitted making a "huge mistake" in associating with Epstein, telling staff at his charity foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women but denied involvement in the disgraced financier's crimes (archived link). 

The mere mention of someone in the Epstein files does not imply any wrongdoing. But the millions of pages made public show at the very least connections between Epstein or his circle and certain public figures who have often downplayed -- or even denied -- the existence of such ties.

While the email cited in the posts is included in the Epstein files, it is unrelated to Covid-19 -- the message includes a passing mention of pandemic preparedness measures that predate the novel coronavirus.

Gates is frequently targeted by misinformation from anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists due to his vocal support for pandemic preparedness and the development of Covid-19 shots.

What the email says

A keyword search of the Epstein files found a March 3, 2017 email in which the disgraced financier responds to a forwarded thread with the subject line "bgc3 Deliverables and Scope" (archived link). 

The original message was addressed by a redacted sender to Gates with Larry Cohen, a longtime associate, in copy. It proposes five deliberables for bgC3 -- including "follow-up recommendations and/or technical specifications for Strain pandemic simulation" (archived link).

The email is an apparent reference to Gates's private personal service company Gates Ventures, known until 2018 as bgC3, where Cohen is CEO (archived links here and here).

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Screenshot from the Epstein files taken February 24, 2026

Pandemic simulations are exercises that use outbreak scenarios designed to stress-test global health systems' response and readiness (archived links here, here and here).

The email exchange cited in the posts makes no mention of Covid-19. The Epstein files include a few other documents related to pandemic simulations that do not reference the coronavirus, either.

A keyword search found hundreds of other references to Covid-19, but they date back to after the coronavirus's emergence in 2019 and consist largely of media coverage, court filings and other documents.

Indonesian fact-checking outlet Tempo has debunked similar claims in two separate fact checks (archived links here and here).

Event 201

The posts shared online build on prior conspiracy theories about Gates, pandemic simulations and their supposed role in the Covid-19 pandemic.

In October 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted an exercise called Event 201 in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a nonprofit that is separate from Gates Ventures. 

The "tabletop exercise" brought together leaders from business, government and health care to examine responses to a hypothetical pandemic (archived link).

"The Gates Foundation participated in Event 201 as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen global pandemic preparedness following the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak," the nonprofit told AFP in a March 9, 2026 email.

"It was a preparedness exercise, not a prediction, and was not based on the novel virus that emerged in 2019."

Johns Hopkins issued a similar statement in 2020, saying it "explicitly stated that it was not a prediction" and that the exercise "served to highlight preparedness and response challenges that would likely arise in a very severe pandemic."

Tara Kirk Sell, who co-led the Event 201 exercise and helped write the script, told AFP in August 2020: "This is basically modeling and thinking through what kind of challenges we would face."

AFP and other fact-checking organisations have repeatedly debunked false claims that the pandemic simulation and others predicted or planned Covid-19 (archived links here, here and here).

A report published June 27, 2025 by the World Health Organization's Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of the Novel Pathogens concluded that while the origins of the coronavirus are inconclusive, "intentional manipulation of the virus is not supported by accurate science" (archived links here and here).

AFP has repeatedly debunked claims related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Epstein files.