Paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein appeated to threaten Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates over an alleged affair with a Russian bridge player, it is reported today.
The Wall Street Journal quotes sources the paper says are familiar with the matter as claiming the disgraced financier discovered Mr Gates had an alleged affair with the woman when she was in her 20s.
Epstein later appeared to use his knowledge to threaten one of the richest men on the planet, the paper reports.
Mr Gates is reported to have met the woman around 2010. Epstein then met her in 2013 and later paid for her to go to software coding school, it is reported.
The WSJ says people familiar with the matter claim that, in 2017, convicted sex offender Epstein emailed Mr Gates and requested to be reimbursed for the cost of the course.
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The email is said to have come after Epstein had tried and failed to persuade Mr Gates to take part in a multibillion-dollar charitable fund he had attempted to set up with JPMorgan Chase.
The WSJ reports that people who viewed the message took the implication to be that Epstein was hinting that he could reveal the alleged affair if Mr Gates did not continue an association between him and the manipulative financier.
A spokesperson for Mr Gates told the paper: “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."
Epstein was first accused of sexually abusing girls as young as 14 in 2006.
Jeffrey Epstein was a well-known socialite before his downfall (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Epstein died in jail (PA)In 2008 he pleaded guilty to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution and spent time in jail and became a registered sex offender.
After dozens more women came forward to report being abused, he was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges, but died later that year in jail while awaiting trial.
A medical examiner reported his death was suicide.
Mr Gates, 67, is the co-founder of tech behemoth Microsoft and remains one of its largest shareholders and one of the richest men on the planet.
He has previously told PBS NewsHour that he only met with Epstein a few times to discuss philanthropy, and described it as a mistake which he regrets.
Mr Gates told PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff that Epstein had claimed to have friendships with people who would donate cash to his foundation working on global health initiatives.
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Mr Gates told the news channel in 2021: "Those meetings were a mistake.
"They didn't result in what he purported and I cut them off."
The WSJ claims the Russian Bridge player who had the alleged affair with Mr Gates is one Mila Antonova, who reportedly declined to comment on him.
She told the paper she did not know who Epstein was when they met, saying: “I had no idea that he was a criminal or had any ulterior motive. I just thought he was a successful businessman and wanted to help.”
She added: “I am disgusted with Epstein and what he did.”
Mr Gates in 2022 (Getty Images)Epstein is known to have sought connections with celebrities, politicians, businessmen and academics, offering favours to exploit the connections for his own ends - but turning on them when things went sour.
The WSJ reports Mr Gates had more than 12 meetings scheduled with Epstein in 2011, and these included dinners at the billionaire;s New York townhouse; a flight on Epstein's private jet from New Jersey to Florida in March 2013 (according to flight records); and much of a the day together in together in New York City in September 2014 meeting other billionaires.
Mr Gates is a keen bridge player, having learned to play from his parents.
Ms Antonova was a devotee of bridge and founded a club for the game in the US, it is reported, and took on several jobs as a software engineer in the Bay Area of San Francisco, a tech hub.
She talked about meeting Mr Gates at a bridge tournament in 2010 in a video posted online, and playing against him,
She said in the video: "I didn’t beat him but I tried to kick him with my leg."
The WSJ reports she met Epstein when she sought funding for an idea to start an online business to teach people how to play bridge, which she dubbed BridgePlanet.
According to documents reportedly seen by the paper, Mr Gates' confidant and top science adviser at the time, Boris Nikolic, who also knew Epstein, introduced the two to help her raise the cash.
Mr Nikolic told the paper that when he first met Epstein it was in his capacity as Mr Gates’ scientific adviser and they discussed philanthropic proposals.
He said: "I deeply regret that I ever met Epstein. His crimes were despicable. I never saw anything like his illegal behavior. My heart goes out to his victims and their families.”
After failing to raise the funds for BridgePlanet, Ms Antonova sought to become a software programmer, and reportedly sought a loan for a boot camp-style programming course.
She told the WSJ: "Epstein agreed to pay and he paid directly to the school. Nothing was exchanged. I don’t know why he did that. When I asked, he said something like, he was wealthy and wanted to help people when he could."
Epstein was reported to have also had several meetings scheduled with other people close to Mr Gates.
A spokesperson for Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold told the WSJ: "Mr Epstein was a regular at TED conferences and he was a large donor to basic scientific research. That is how and why Nathan knew him and that’s exactly where their association ends."
Mr Nikolic added: "I should never have associated with him — and now I am thankful that he never invested in my endeavors."
Epstein was at the time attempting to create a multibillion-dollar charitable fund with JPMorgan, pooling cash from some of the world's richest people with $100million contributed per person and him earning millions in fees.
He also saw it as a way to repair his reputation after his sex offences - and it all relied on securing support from Mr Gates, it is reported.
Mr Gates spokesperson said Epstein had misrepresented his closeness with Mr Gates in emails to JPMorgan and others, and he never worked for him.
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