Less than one week after backing out of a high-profile international speaking gig over reports of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has confessed to a shocking Epstein-related scandal he kept secret for years.
The Microsoft co-founder told staffers at his foundation on Tuesday that he had two affairs with Russian women while married to his now-ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
Gates also issued an apology for his links to Epstein.
Gates admitted yesterday 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 has continued to deny wrongdoing over his Epstein links, but came clean about alleged affairs during his time with French Gates, who filed 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.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates’ roundabout connection to the Russian affairs began when Epstein had previously threatened Gates over the affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova.
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.
Epstein then claimed the women risked “becoming overnight sensations.”
“Bill risks going from richest man to biggest hypocrite, Melinda a laughing stock, pledges will disappear as a result,” Epstein told Nikolic.
Just weeks later, Epstein sent a “resignation” email to himself in which he seemed to be writing as Nikolic.
“During the past few weeks I have been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill,” the email said.
The email tried to suggest Nikolic had assisted Gates in securing medication “in order to deal with the consequences of sex with Russian girls.”
Nikolic claimed the emails were not written on his behalf or at his request.
Gates’ bombshell admission comes on the heels of an alleged 2013 email draft in which Epstein claimed Gates asked him to delete messages about an STD and sought antibiotics to secretly give to then-wife Melinda.
In the July 18, 2013 draft email to himself, Epstein wrote that Gates asked him to “delete the emails regarding your std” and referenced “your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda.”
The draft also refers to “Russian girls.”
Take a look —
Newly released Epstein files allege Bill Gates asked Jeffrey Epstein for “antibiotics” for his wife, Melinda, with the documents claiming it followed an STD he reportedly contracted from “Russian girls.” pic.twitter.com/Ei8uf8GzlA
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 30, 2026
Gates has previously acknowledged a relationship with Epstein but said he cut off contact.
“I had dinners with him. I regret doing that,” Gates told PBS NewsHour in September 2021.
Last February, Gates opened up to the Wall Street Journal in a lengthy interview detailing his relationship with Epstein.
Gates called himself “foolish” and said that spending any time with Epstein was a “huge mistake.”