Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates provided the names of two Russian women with whom he had affairs, under questioning on Capitol Hill this month.
The billionaire identified the women before the House Oversight Committee as part of an ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 in a New York City jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Gates was asked to sit for a voluntary transcribed interview after his name appeared in a batch of Epstein files released by the Justice Department. These include allegations in an unsent email written by Epstein that Gates hid a sexually transmitted disease from his wife after contact with “Russian girls”, though Gates has denied this.
The 70-year-old told the committee in his closed-door testimony on June 10 that he had affairs with Karima Nigmatulina, a Russian nuclear physicist, and Mila Antonova, a Russian bridge player, according to a transcript published Tuesday.
In February, he apologized to the staff of the Gates Foundation over his relationship with Epstein. He admitted to having extramarital relations with Russian women, but did not name them at the time.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes. Gates said he and Epstein met in 2011 and that they had several dinners over a three-year period. He has denied any wrongdoing, but told congressmen on Wednesday he may have unknowingly “been in the presence of victims” while meeting the disgraced financier.
Gates testified that after learning of his two affairs with Russian women, Epstein tried to use the information as leverage against him, as he reportedly did with others around him.
Epstein “contemplated blackmailing me” after learning of his affairs, Gates claimed.
He said that while Epstein was not able to blackmail him about his extramarital relationships, “it looks like Mr Epstein’s brainstorming was going in that direction.”
Gates said he cut ties with Epstein in 2014 after the disgraced financier’s promises of bringing in donors “led to nothing”.
“I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone,” Gates said in his opening statement. “While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated.”
A spokesperson for Gates previously said in a statement to media outlets that Gates “never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct.”
The interview was part of an ongoing probe by the oversight committee that has seen high-profile individuals grilled on Epstein, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who were interviewed in February after being subpoenaed.
Gates, pressed further by lawmakers, disclosed a third affair with medical entrepreneur Alice Jacobs Nesselrodt, which predated his 2011 introduction to Epstein.
The Telegraph reports he appeared caught off guard when shown a July 2013 email in which the financier referenced the relationship, having earlier suggested Epstein knew only of the two Russian women.
Much of the committee’s questioning centered on a 2013 memo in which Epstein claimed Gates had caught a sexually transmitted disease from Russian women and sought antibiotics to pass to his then-wife without her knowledge.
Gates rejected that account. “I never had an STD. I never gave medicines to anyone covertly,” he told the panel, conceding he may once have voiced worries about an infection to a mutual associate.
The transcript also showed Gates conceding that Boris Nikolic, a company employee who also knew Epstein, was used as cover during his meetings with one of the women, and was once sent in his place when Gates ran late.
The episode echoes earlier reporting, when the Wall Street Journal revealed in 2023 that Epstein had emailed Gates in 2017 seeking reimbursement for a software-coding course he had funded for Antonova.
The paper said the message carried an implicit threat to expose the affair after Gates declined to back a multibillion-dollar philanthropic fund Epstein hoped to launch with JPMorgan Chase.
The Daily Beast has contacted a representative for Gates for comment.
