According to a new report, the late Jeffrey Epstein threatened to expose an alleged affair between Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and a Russian bridge player, Mila Antonova, after Gates refused to join his philanthropic venture.
Epstein, who committed suicide in 2019, reportedly made this threat in a 2017 email, as detailed by The Wall Street Journal.
Gates and Antonova met in 2010 and participated in a tournament together when she moved to the Bay Area to work as a software engineer.
While Antonova confirmed being on friendly terms with Gates in a 2010 video about her passion for bridge, sources claim that there was a brief romance between them while Gates was still married to his then-wife, Melinda French Gates.
Epstein, on the other hand, met Antonova while she was seeking financial support for a bridge academy. He later funded her attendance at a software coding school.
In the 2017 email, Epstein demanded that Gates reimburse him for the investment in Antonova’s coding education, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
This email followed Gates’ refusal to participate in Epstein’s multi-billion-dollar charity, which he was attempting to establish with JPMorgan Chase.
Gates, aged 67, has previously acknowledged meeting Epstein on several occasions in the 2010s, expressing remorse. These meetings were aimed at raising funds for the Gates Foundation.
A spokesperson for Gates stated, “Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates.”
The spokesperson also clarified that Gates never succumbed to the threat, emphasizing that there were no financial dealings between Gates and Epstein.
While Antonova expressed her ignorance of Epstein’s true identity at the time they met, she later condemned his actions. However, she declined to comment on her alleged relationship with Gates.
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