One of the richest people in the world has again come to the center of a controversy over his alleged secret affair with a Russian bridge player, and how he was blackmailed by Jeffrey Epstein for his clandestine relationship.
The disgraced financial Jeffrey Epstein used to blackmail Microsoft founder Bill Gates for his affair with a then twenty-year-old Russian bridge player, Mila Antonova, reported the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The report revealed how Jeffrey Epstein lowered his level to extort money from Bill Gates.
Bill Gates’s affair with Russian bridge Player
According to the WSJ report, Bill Gates met with a woman around 2010, when she was in her twenties. Three years later, Epstein met the lady and also paid the fees of her coding course in 2013. After four years in 2017, when everything between Gates and the lady was over completely, Epstein emailed Bill Gates and threatened him to reveal his relationship. He also asked Gates to reimburse the fee amount paid by Epstein in 2013.
Meet Mila Antonova, the young bridge player who Bill Gates had an affair with in 2010. Jeffrey Epstein found out about this affair and used it as leverage against Bill Gates. Bill Gates began having private meetings with Epstein in 2011, but Epstein didn’t find out about the… pic.twitter.com/4W6gTKx7WN
— Erin Elizabeth Health Nut News 🙌 (@unhealthytruth) May 21, 2023
Who was Jeffrey Epstein, the person who blackmailed Bill Gates?
Jeffrey Epstein was a financier and a sex offender, who spent the last days of his life in jail due to his involvement in forcing girls into prostitution. He was pleaded guilty and convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court. He was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. He was also facing charges of sexually abusing girls as young as fourteen years old.
The email to blackmail Bill Gates came after the convicted sex offender wasn’t able to convince the philanthropist in a multibillion-dollar charitable fund that Epstein tried to establish with JP Morgan Chase. He threatened Bill Gates that he would reveal the affair if Gates didn’t keep up an association between the two men, reported WSJ.
“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 spokeswoman for Gates told WSJ.
Who is Mila Antonova, the Russian bridge player linked with Gates
Mila Antonova had earlier attended a university in Russia between 2000 and 2005 and later founded a bridge club in the U.S. before taking on several roles as a software engineer in the Bay Area.
Recalling her match with Bill Gates, Antonova said in a video, “I didn’t beat him but I tried to kick him with my leg.”
She wanted to start an online business to teach people how to play bridge. Then came Boris Nikolic into the scene. Boris Nikolic was the top science adviser at that time. He also knew Epstein and was the person who introduced him to Antonova hoping that he would help Antonova in raising funds, reported WSJ citing documents.
After years of attempts to secure funds to start her bridge club, Antonova couldn’t get enough funds for the business and decided to take up engineering as her profession. To pursue the new career she again required funds to complete her studies.
At that time she was again unable to raise money for education. “Epstein agreed to pay and he paid directly to the school. Nothing was exchanged. I don’t know why he did that,” she said. “When I asked, he said something like, he was wealthy and wanted to help people when he could.”
The Russian bridge player, Mila Antonova, declined to comment on the issue and said that she didn’t know about the malicious intent of Epstein when she met him in 2013. “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.” She added: “I am disgusted with Epstein and what he did.”
“I deeply regret that I ever met Epstein,” Nikolic said. “His crimes were despicable. I never saw anything like his illegal behavior. My heart goes out to his victims and their families.”
Bill Gates’s connection with Jeffry Epstein
The latest details in the case show how Epstein used his connection to blackmail Bill Gates for his benefit. Bill Gates has a net worth of more than $100 billion. Moreover, he is one of the world’s biggest philanthropists and a popular name on Epstein’s list.
In 2011, Bill Gates had more than a half dozen meetings scheduled with Epstein. Moreover, Gates used to fly on Epstein’s private plane from New Jersey to Florida in 2013, reported WSJ.
In 2017, Epstein contacted Gates about the Russian bridge player. He had sent an email to Bill Gates asking to be reimbursed for the costs of Antonova’s coding school, the people said. However, Bill Gates never responded and Epstein couldn’t achieve success.