Photo: STEFAN JERREVANG / AFP / Getty Images
Bill Gates has issued a forceful denial of allegations made by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein claiming the Microsoft co-founder contracted a sexually transmitted disease from Russian women and secretly provided antibiotics to his then-wife Melinda. The claims surfaced Thursday (January 30) as part of a massive document release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The allegations appear in draft emails Epstein sent to himself in July 2013, which appear to be written from the perspective of Boris Nikolic, Gates' longtime science adviser at the time. According to the Daily Mail, the emails claim Nikolic helped Gates "get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls" and was asked to provide antibiotics that Gates could "surreptitiously give to Melinda."
The draft emails also included what purported to be Nikolic's resignation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Writing in Nikolic's voice, Epstein claimed he had "been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill" and had participated in activities "that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound."
A spokesperson for Gates responded with an unusually direct statement to the Daily Mail. "These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false," the spokesperson said. "The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame."
The 3.5 million pages of documents were released by the Justice Department Friday and include multiple previously unseen photographs of Gates and Epstein together at various locations. One image shows Gates smiling alongside a woman whose face has been obscured. Another photo from 2011 shows Gates at Epstein's Manhattan residence with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Nikolic.
Gates and Melinda divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. Melinda has cited her ex-husband's relationship with Epstein as one factor in the split. Melinda hired divorce lawyers in 2019 after learning about Gates' repeated meetings with the convicted pedophile.
Text messages from 2017 released by Congress last year suggested Gates wanted to maintain contact with Epstein despite Melinda's objections. An adviser wrote to Epstein that Gates "wants to talk to you but his wife won't let him" and "he loves you."
The documents released Friday are part of ongoing disclosures related to Epstein's criminal activities and connections to prominent figures in business, politics, and entertainment. The Justice Department has not verified the accuracy of the claims made in Epstein's draft emails.