Ted Waitt, the billionaire cofounder of the Gateway computer company, told lawmakers during a closed-door interview that he was in a romantic relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell from 2004 to 2010, but said that “if I knew then what I know now about Ms Maxwell, I never would’ve befriended her or allowed her to be around my four children”, according to a transcript of his testimony released by the House oversight and reform committee.

“I never would’ve spent six years in a romantic relationship with her,” Waitt said in his opening statement before the committee on 30 April, according to the transcript released on Wednesday.…