According to reports, convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein threatened to reveal Bill Gates’ alleged liaison with a Russian bridge player and blackmailed him.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the late paedophile threatened to reveal the Microsoft co-founder’s alleged relationship with Mila Antonova if Mr Gates didn’t pay back the tuition expenses that Epstein had first paid for the woman to attend a software coding school.
After failing to persuade the fourth richest man in the world to join a multibillion-dollar charity fund that he intended to establish with JPMorgan Chase, Epstein blackmailed Mr Gates via email in 2017.
The subtext behind the letter, according to the WSJ investigation, was that if Mr Gates didn’t maintain a relationship with the two men, Epstein might disclose the affair.
“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,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told the Journal.
Ms Antonova was apparently in her 20s when the co-founder of Microsoft first spoke with her. She talked about meeting Mr Gates at a bridge competition and competing against him in a YouTube video uploaded that year.
“I didn’t beat him but tried to kick him with my leg,” Ms Antonova said in the video.
According to the Journal, Ms Antonova was trying to secure funds in order to establish an online bridge tutorial business. She was introduced to Epstein through Boris Nikolic, a close adviser to Mr Gates.
Ms Antonova and Mr Nikolic met Epstein at his townhouse in November 2013 in New York City, where she reportedly sought $500,000 for her initiative to “promote bridge by creating quality tutorials for beginners and advanced players”.
Although Epstein declined to back her proposal, she later stayed in one of his New York residences a year later. Later, he covered the cost of Ms Antonova’s software coding training. While she was trying to launch her project, Epstein was working with JPMorgan to establish his charitable fund, which would have required the multi-billionaires to contribute at least $100 million.
Ms Antonova, in a statement to the Journal, said she didn’t know who Epstein was when they met. “I had no idea that he was a criminal or had any ulterior motive,” she said of Epstein.
“I just thought he was a successful businessman and wanted to help. I am disgusted with Epstein and what he did.” The bridge player declined to comment about Mr Gates.
