Female job candidates who applied to work at Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's private office were asked sexually explicit questions, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The questions included queries about their sexual histories and pornography.
The Journal reported that the questions also included inquiries about candidates' previous drug use and if they'd ever had an extramarital affair. The questions were conducted by a security firm and seemed intended to determine if the applicants would be susceptible to blackmail.
The report said, "Some female job candidates were asked whether they ever had extramarital affairs, what kind of pornography they preferred or if they had nude photographs of themselves on their phones."
"Female candidates sometimes were asked whether they had ever 'danced for dollars'... One of the candidates was asked whether she had ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease," the report added.
Notably, none of the male applicants was asked such questions, although the publication writes that it is possible other male candidates were asked about their sex lives.
A spokesperson for Gates' office told the publication that they were not aware that applicants were being subjected to such questioning and added, "This line of questioning would be unacceptable and a violation of Gates Ventures' agreement with the contractor."
The background checks were conducted by third-party contractor Concentric Advisors.
Mr Gates, with a net worth of $132 billion, is the No. 4 richest person in the world, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
