Epstein accused billionaire Bill Gates of leaving Swamitra penniless and sleeping on the couch

A billionaire’s famous philanthropist allegedly did not extend his extramarital affair.

Bill Gates is facing intense scrutiny with an installment of files released on January 30 for his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. In a 2017 email, Epstein alleged that Gates had left his former Russian mistress “broken” and slept in a friend’s bed — and if her precarious financial situation had been made public in front of Donald Trump.

Gates, 70 – who is worth about $104 billion, making him one of the 20 richest people in the world – has been one of the most high-profile casualties of the ongoing release of the Epstein files.

In an email sent from Epstein’s personal Gmail account to Boris Nikolic, an adviser to Microsoft founder Gates, Epstein wrote in July 2017 that Gates’ “former bridge girl” — who looks like bridge player Mila Antonova, nearly 30 years Gates’ junior — was “broke” and “had little money.”

Epstein claimed she was “living on a friend’s couch,” and “really needed money,” before adding: “I sent her some.”

In a typo-ridden email, the convicted child sex offender then mocked Nikolic’s “friend Bill” as a “nut,” Gates’ “ex-girlfriend … can’t air confirm to travel on the bridge, , can’t (sic).”

“The richest man in the world is so cheap, his old bridge girl and toys, he lives on his friend’s couch,” Epstein said, adding: “That story would knock Trump off the front page.”

At the time Epstein’s emails were sent, Trump was embroiled in a furor at the Trump Tower Russia meeting after Donald Trump Jr. released emails showing he had received “very high-level and sensitive information” about Hillary Clinton from a Kremlin-connected lawyer.

The episode dominated cable news and front pages while Robert Mueller examined whether the meeting broke campaign-finance or conspiracy laws, though prosecutors ultimately brought no charges at the meeting.

Epstein’s emails appear to refer to Antonova, who, according to a May 2023 Wall Street Journal report, had an affair with Gates in 2010, when she was in her 20s. According to the Journal, Epstein later met Antonova in 2013 after Nikolic introduced them and agreed to pay for her software coding course.

Four years later, in 2017, Epstein sent Gates an email demanding reimbursement, widely interpreted as an attempt to leverage one of the world’s richest men, according to the Journal. The Daily Telegraph later reported in 2023 that Antonova was an associate of “notorious” Kremlin spy Anna Chapman.

Gates has said that his meetings with Epstein were purely about philanthropy and that they were a “huge mistake”. A spokesman insisted that Epstein’s attempts to portray himself as a Gates mentor were false and that “Mr. Gates had no financial dealings with Epstein,” including Antonova’s tuition.

“Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for charitable purposes. After repeatedly failing to draw Mr. Gates out of these matters, Epstein unsuccessfully attempted to leverage the past relationship to intimidate Mr. Gates,” a Gates spokesperson told The Daily Beast.

Antonova previously told the Journal that she didn’t know who Epstein was when they met and believed he was just a wealthy businessman who offered to help her bridge-teaching startup. She said he later let her stay in his New York apartment for a short time, but they barely communicated, and she was now “disgusted” by what she had learned about him.

Nikolic, a physician-investor who served as Gates’ chief science adviser between 2009 and 2014, has said he first met Epstein in Gates’ official capacity, now regrets the contact, and denies a business relationship with the pedophile financier.

The Antonova memo is part of a flood of material released under the Epstein File Transparency Act, which forced the Justice Department to dump millions of pages of Epstein-related documents, including emails, photos and videos.

Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee have also posted their own cache of Epstein communications, while blasting the DOJ for withholding large portions of the files.

It’s the latest lurid accusation to hit Gates from the files. On Monday, The Daily Beast reported on 2013 draft emails in which Epstein took messages for Nikolic, accused Gates of catching a sexually transmitted infection after “having sex with Russian girls” and conspired to slip his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, antibiotics without her knowledge.

A spokesman for Gates called the claims “absolutely absurd and completely false.” French Gates later said the document drop brought back “very, very painful” memories of their marriage.

Gates has insisted in multiple interviews that he never visited Epstein’s island, never met women through her, and that the relationship consisted of a handful of dinners since 2011 that he now regrets.

In an interview with Australia’s 9 News that aired Wednesday, Gates was pressed directly about his relationship with a convicted sex offender. He said: “The focus was always, he knows very rich people, and he said, he can give them money for universal health.

“You know, in retrospect, that was a dead end, and I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again: I was a fool to spend time with him. I was one of the many people who regretted knowing him.”

Epstein, who died in 2019 at the age of 66 in a New York prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, spent his final years trying to monetize his relationships with billionaires and world leaders — and, as this latest email shows, often scolding them privately.

The Daily Beast has attempted to contact Antonova for comment.