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Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reportedly admitted to having two affairs with Russian women during his marriage to ex-wife Melinda French Gates and apologized to staffers at his foundation for his ties to late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday (February 24), the Wall Street Journal reports.
Gates, 70, reportedly admitted to having flown on a private plane with Epstein and spending time with the financier both in the United States and internationally, but claims he didn't participate in any crime during the town hall meeting.
“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates said via the Wall Street Journal. “To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him.”
Gates was reported to have met Epstein in 2011, which was after the latter was already convicted for procuring a child for prostitution, and continued to socialize with the financier despite concerns raised by his ex-wife, whom he admitted to cheating on prior to their 2021 divorce.
“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,” Gates reportedly told staffers.
Epstein was reported to have threatened Gates over his affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, which was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2023. Epstein reportedly met Antonova while looking for financial backers for a bridge academy before financing her tuition at a software coding school.
Gates reportedly met Antonova in 2010 when they were both playing in a bridge tournament in 2010.