Report: Jeffrey Epstein Blackmailed Bill Gates Over Alleged Affair

Facts

• According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein tried to blackmail Bill Gates over a 2010 extramarital affair the Microsoft co-founder had with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova.¹
• After the affair, Boris Nikolic, a top adviser to Gates at the time, introduced Antanova to Epstein in 2013, when the two met at his Manhattan home. She asked him to fund a project teaching people how to play bridge online, though Epstein only agreed to pay for her software coding education.²
• In 2017, having failed to persuade him to join a multibillion-dollar charitable deal with JPMorgan Chase, Epstein allegedly emailed Gates asking him to reimburse the tuition costs. Sources who saw the email say it implied he would reveal the affair if Gates didn't participate.³
• Epstein, whose relationship with Gates reportedly began in 2011 after his conviction, portrayed himself as a close adviser to Gates in his emails to JPMorgan executives. Beginning that year, the two men reportedly met at Epstein's townhouse at least three times.⁴
• In a 2011 email to JPMorgan executives, Epstein wrote that "this [fund] will allow Bill to have access to higher quality people, investment, allocation, governance without upsetting either his marriage or the sensitivities of the current foundation employees."³
• In 2021, Gates admitted to the affair "almost 20 years ago," but only after the WSJ reported that Microsoft’s board members requested him to step down from its board in 2020 as they probed the alleged relationship with a female staff member.⁵

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²New York Post, ³Wall Street Journal, ⁴Independent, and ⁵Forbes.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Newsweek. While it's true that Bill Gates met with Epstein within the US mainland on a few occasions, there is no proof that he ever visited Epstein's island or participated in his illegal activities. Without knowing about Epstein's sex trafficking ring, Gates did discuss philanthropic endeavors with the man in the hopes of furthering the Gates Foundation's charitable reach to help the less fortunate. Any accusations beyond these facts are wild conspiracy theories with no evidence to back them up.
• Narrative B, as provided by Verge. Gates' relationship with Epstein did go beyond a few meetings and lasted well beyond 2011. Gates' name was on Epstein's plane flight log and the Gates Foundation remained in contact with the convicted pedophile through 2017. Furthermore, another college graduate, Melanie Walker, met Epstein in 1998, also through Bill Gates' science advisor Boris Nikolic, after which she obtained a job at the Gates Foundation in 2006. Gates was very connected to Epstein, and no public relations statement can change that fact.