Bill Gates's Private Office accused of asking sexually explicit questions during job recruitment

The female candidates were asked about their sexually explicit and personal questions when interviewing for a job at Bill Gates's private office.

In a recent report on June 29 by The Wall Street Journal, it was revealed that Bill Gates's private office, Gates Ventures, posed female candidates a series of difficult questions about their sex lives during the recruitment process.

According to the report, women who applied for jobs at Gates Ventures said they were asked questions about past sexual experiences, the presence of nudity on mobile phones, preferred types of pornography, and whether they have a sexually transmitted disease. Several other female candidates said they had been asked about "dancing for money" in the past, having had extramarital sex, as well as drug use.

The questions were supposed to determine whether candidates would be vulnerable to blackmail if they were hired to work for the billionaire. The report said they could not confirm whether men were asked the same questions, but none of the male candidates said they had faced the same extensive background checks. Notably, the source told the Wall Street Journal that the interview was conducted by a third-party security firm called Concentric Advisors. 

A spokesman for Bill Gates said his office was not aware such questions were being asked on behalf of Gates Ventures, asserting that those private questions would violate the agreement, which requires compliance with pre-employment screening laws. Sensitive information must be voluntarily provided. Federal law prohibits employers from asking questions about a candidate's medical or psychiatric history.

Concentric Advisors CEO Mike LeFever told the WSJ that their screening questions and background checks are the same regardless of gender and that they comply with state and federal laws.

The candidates countered that the interviewer not only asked questions about their personal lives but also clearly linked the job offer to the interview results, as demonstrated by a consent form from Concentric. By signing, prospective employees agreed that a “behavioral assessment,” including drug, alcohol, medical, and psychiatric histories, would be used by Gates Ventures to “assess the extent of fit for the job”.

Bill Gates leaves Microsoft's board of directors in 2020, amid an internal investigation into his "inappropriate" relationship with an engineer working at the company - one of many alleged cases by the Microsoft billionaire.

Microsoft employees are said to have considered Bill Gates an "office bully" because of his tendency to sexually harass female employees and hit female reporters. Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is said to have tried to blackmail Bill Gates with the billionaire's affair with Russian card player Mila Antonova. However, this attempt is said to have failed.