Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has admitted he had two affairs with Russian women while married to his now-ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, and issued a groveling apology for his links withconvicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates, 70, told staffers at his foundation on Tuesday that he flew on a private plane with the disgraced financier and spent time with him in the US and abroad, but didn’t participate in any crime,according to the Wall Street Journal.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates said in the town hall meeting. “To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him.”
Gates first met Epstein in 2011, which was after the financier’s Florida conviction for procuring a child for prostitution, and continued to socialize with him — seemingly ignoring concerns raised by French Gates.
The billionaire has always denied wrongdoing over his Epstein links, but came clean about alleged affairs during his time with French Gates, whofiled for divorce in 2021,ending their 27-year marriage.
“I did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities,” he told staffers.
Epstein had previously threatened Gates over theaffair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, which was previouslyreported by the outlet
Epstein met Antonova while seeking financial backers for a bridge academy before he paid for her to attend software coding school.
Gates met Antonova in 2010 at a tournament they were playing in.
In a July 4, 2013, email to Boris Nikolic, Gates’ chief adviser for science and technology, Epstein named two women with whom he alleged Gates had affairs.
Source: Drudge Report
