During testimony before a US congressional committee, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates admitted to having had three extramarital relationships with women who, according to documents made public, also had ties to the notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In the testimony, Gates identified the women as Mila Antonova, a professional bridge player, Karima Nigmatulina, a nuclear physicist, and physician and entrepreneur Alice Jacobs Nesselrodt. He explained that his relationship with Nesselrodt had begun before 2010, while the relationships with the other two women came several years later, when they were in their 20s and 30s.
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The 70-year-old billionaire said he had told his former wife, Melinda French Gates, about his relationship with Nesselrodt many years earlier. As for his relationships with Antonova and Nigmatulina, he said he had spoken about them in the spring of 2013. When asked whether he believed those affairs may have influenced Melinda’s decision to seek a divorce in 2021, he said that was possible.
Gates also said Epstein had learned about his relationships with two of the women and had implied that he could blackmail him. According to his testimony, Epstein had exchanged emails suggesting he was considering such a possibility, although Gates insisted he was never blackmailed.
He also acknowledged that he had other extramarital affairs during his marriage, but stressed that they had no connection to Epstein. Gates also denied claims contained in documents released by the US Department of Justice alleging that one of the women had transmitted a sexually transmitted disease to him or that he had asked Epstein for help obtaining antibiotics.
In the same testimony, he said it was possible he had been in the presence of some of Epstein’s victims during meetings he had held with him, but he firmly denied any inappropriate behavior or involvement in illegal activity. Previously, his representatives had also said that the meetings with Epstein had been a “mistake,” while denying any connection between Gates and the financier’s criminal activities.
The release of this testimony has renewed attention on reporting in recent years about Gates’ private life. In 2021, in an interview with CBS, Melinda French Gates said her former husband’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein had been one of the factors that contributed to the end of their 27-year marriage. When asked about allegations that Gates had been repeatedly unfaithful, she responded that he was the one who needed to explain those matters.
Various media reports have also claimed that Gates had relationships with employees of Microsoft and the Gates Foundation. In 2019, Microsoft’s board launched an investigation after an engineer reported a relationship with Gates that had taken place years earlier. In 2020, he stepped down from the company’s board, while his spokesperson said the relationship had ended amicably and was unrelated to the decision to leave.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Gates met Mila Antonova around 2010 during a bridge tournament. Antonova later made contact with Jeffrey Epstein as well, and he financed her studies in computer programming before later asking Gates to reimburse those expenses. This episode has been cited as one of the reasons that raised suspicions Epstein might have tried to exert pressure on the billionaire.
Media reports have also mentioned claims of a relationship between Gates and neurosurgeon Melanie Walker, who had worked for the Gates Foundation and had also been close to Epstein for years. Walker’s lawyer has described her as a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, while Gates’ representatives have acknowledged that the relationship between them was consensual, denying any unlawful element.
For many years, Bill Gates has been regarded as one of the world’s best-known entrepreneurs and philanthropists through the Gates Foundation, which has invested billions of dollars in the fight against poverty and infectious diseases. However, the publication of the testimony and new documents has brought his personal life, extramarital relationships, and contacts with Jeffrey Epstein back to the center of public debate, issues that continue to affect his reputation.
