Bill Gates Was Once Arrested For Running a Stop Sign in Paul Allen's Car— He Now Carries Cash 'I Like The Idea Of Being Able To Bail Myself Out'

Bill Gates may be best known as the brain behind Microsoft, but before he became one of the richest men in the world, he was a young tech geek with a heavy foot on the gas pedal. Long before self-driving cars and electric vehicles, Gates was tearing up the roads of Albuquerque in borrowed sports cars, racking up speeding tickets, and yes—getting arrested.

When the infamous mugshot resurfaced in 2024, Snopes fact-checked the story, clarifying that while many had claimed Gates ran a red light, he had actually been pulled over for running a stop sign. Back in 1977, Gates, then a 22-year-old Harvard dropout, was behind the wheel of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's car when he was stopped. The problem? The problem? No license. The result? A now-iconic mugshot featuring a grinning, flower-collared Gates, blissfully unaware of the multibillion-dollar empire he was yet to build. "They put me in with all the drunks all night long," he recalled in a 2007 Times magazine article. 

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While most people walk away from such experiences vowing to drive more responsibly, Gates took a different lesson from it: always keep cash on hand. He stated:

"And that’s why the rest of my life, I’ve always tried to have a fair amount of cash with me. I like the idea of being able to bail myself out.”

His love for fast cars didn't stop with Allen's ride. In his early 20s, Gates splurged on a used Porsche 911, using it to blow off steam by speeding through the New Mexico desert. It wasn't long before the local cops took notice—Gates was slapped with multiple tickets, including two from the same officer.

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In a January Wired interview, he was asked about the infamous arrest. He explained, "They thought it was strange that somebody so young had a nice car—what was the story with this kid? I clearly didn't fit their normal pattern." Then he added, "We kept enough cash around that Paul was able to come down and bail me out."

Of course, Gates wasn't just hoarding cash for get-out-of-jail-free moments. Even in Microsoft's infancy, he insisted on keeping enough money in the bank to cover a full year of expenses, fearing an economic downturn that could leave his employees unpaid. "People who worked for me had kids, and I always thought, ‘What if we don't get paid?'" he explained in 2007, according to CNBC. That same cautious mindset helped him turn Microsoft into a tech giant while ensuring he never had to spend another night in jail.

These days, Gates is more likely to be seen championing philanthropy than racing through the streets, but his youthful adventures—and that infamous mugshot—remain a reminder that even the world's most successful people had their rebellious moments.

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