Bill Gates Makes Bombshell Admission Amid Epstein Fallout

Bill Gates is once again facing intense scrutiny — and this time, he’s addressing some of the rumors head-on.

During a tense town hall meeting with staff at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday, the Microsoft co-founder acknowledged that long-circulating rumors about two past affairs are true. The admission comes as newly released Jeffrey Epstein case files reignite questions about Gates’ relationship with the disgraced financier.

“I did have affairs,” Gates reportedly told employees, according to The Wall Street Journal. He said one relationship was with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, whom he met at competitive bridge events, and another was with a Russian nuclear physicist he encountered through business dealings.

But Gates drew a hard line when it came to the Epstein allegations.

“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” he told staff, while apologizing for his past association with Epstein.

The renewed controversy erupted after the Justice Department released another batch of Epstein-related documents on Jan. 30. Among the materials were emails — dated years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor — in which Epstein allegedly claimed he had arranged “sex with Russian girls” for Gates.

One draft message referenced a sexually transmitted disease allegedly tied to one of those encounters and even discussed secretly administering antibiotics to Gates’ then-wife, Melinda French Gates. There is no evidence those emails were ever sent, and Gates has categorically denied the allegations.

The documents also suggest Epstein used knowledge of Gates’ affair with Antonova as leverage. In 2017, Epstein allegedly threatened to expose the relationship after Gates’ former science adviser, Boris Nikolic, became aware of it. Emails indicate Epstein inserted himself into Nikolic’s departure negotiations from Gates’ private office, allegedly attempting to pressure the billionaire.

Epstein also reportedly paid for Antonova’s coding school tuition and later sought reimbursement from Gates.

At the town hall, Gates addressed photographs included in the newly released files showing him alongside women whose faces were obscured. He said the images were taken at Epstein’s request following meetings, arranged by Epstein’s staff.

“To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” Gates said.

He admitted that continuing to associate with Epstein after his 2008 conviction was a serious misstep.

“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein,” Gates said, adding that he regretted bringing foundation executives into meetings with the convicted sex offender. “I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made.”

Gates has long acknowledged meeting Epstein in 2011, several years after the financier’s guilty plea, and attending dinners with him in the years that followed. He has maintained those interactions were focused on philanthropy.

Still, the revelations have added new context to his 2021 divorce from Melinda French Gates, who previously indicated that her ex-husband’s relationship with Epstein contributed to the split.

During the town hall, Gates confirmed he continued meeting with Epstein through 2014. The two traveled to Germany, France, New York, and Washington together, and Gates acknowledged flying on Epstein’s private jet. However, he emphasized that he never stayed overnight at Epstein’s residences or visited his private island.

He also admitted that his presence — along with other prominent figures — may have helped normalize Epstein’s standing in elite circles.

“Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse,” Gates said, referencing not only Epstein’s past crimes but what he described as “ongoing bad behavior.”

The fallout is now rippling through the Gates Foundation, an organization built around global health and philanthropy.

“It definitely is the opposite of the values of the Foundation and the goals of the Foundation,” Gates told employees. “And our work is very reputational sensitive. I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us.”

For one of the world’s most powerful philanthropists, the shadow of Epstein appears far from over.