Jeffrey Epstein attempted to blackmail Bill Gates by threatening to expose an alleged affair he had in 2010 with a Russian bridge player in her early 20s, according to a shocking new report from the Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that notorious pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in a jail cell in 2019, asked Bill Gates to participate in a multibillion-dollar charitable fund in 2017 and reportedly threatened to expose the Microsoft billionaire’s infidelity if he declined.
In 2010, Gates allegedly entered into an affair with a woman named Mila Antonova after meeting her at a bridge tournament. Antonova was in her early 20’s at the time of the affair, according to the outlet. Gates was married to his ex-wife Melinda Gates at the time.
In 2013, Antonova met Epstein when she was trying to raise funds for a business venture that included an online bridge platform. Esptein did not fund this project but paid for Antonova to attend a software coding school, WSJ reports.
It was in 2017 when Esptein used Gates’ affair with Antonova as leverage in order to get him to participate in the charity fund.
The “threat” was not straightforward and was sent in the matter of asking Gates for reimbursement for Antonova’s coding school, which was the first time Esptein mentioned the affair, according to the outlet.
According to documents obtained by WSJ, Antonova was first introduced to Epstein through Boris Nikolic, an advisor to Gates, to help raise funds her online bridge venture which she was hoping to secure $500,000 for to “promote bridge by creating quality tutorials for beginners and advanced players.”
While Antonova failed to secure the funds, Epstein paid for her education, the outlet reports.
“Epstein agreed to pay and he paid directly to the school. Nothing was exchanged. I don’t know why he did that,” Antonova told the Journal. “When I asked, he said something like, ‘he was wealthy and wanted to help people when he could.'”
In 2014, Antonova told the outlet that she had stayed at an apartment provided by Epstein during a trip to New York City but did not meet him.
A spokesperson for Bill Gates told Wall Street Journal, “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.”
Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2019 shortly after Epstein was charged with sex trafficking.
Gates, whose foundation has worked hard to help girls globally, met with Epstein over the course of numerous years after Epstein had been in prison for soliciting sex from a minor. When Gates met with him, Epstein was already a registered sex offender. Melinda said Bill’s relationship to Epstein was a cause that attributed to her filing for divorce.
