Meet Mila Antonova, Russian who had alleged affair with Bill Gates

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Bill Gates’ alleged extramarital affair with a Russian bridge player was revealed over the weekend when a report emerged claiming Jeffrey Epstein threatened to expose the reputed romantic tryst.

Gates’ alleged Russian lover, Mila Antonova, would have been in her 20s when the pair supposedly engaged in a relationship.

The billionaire tech titan would have been in his late 50s and still married to then-wife Melinda Gates.

Details of the alleged illicit pair’s relationship were first revealed in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Here’s what we know so far about Antonova and her alleged affair with Gates:

What is her background?

Antonova, who was born and raised in Russia, is an accomplished card player.

She attended a university in her homeland from 2000 to 2005, according to her now-deleted LinkedIn profile.

After relocating to the US, Antonova started working as a software engineer in San Francisco.

She also founded a bridge club at some point after arriving in America.

Very little is know about her family or upbringing in Russia.

How did she meet Bill Gates?

The billionaire Microsoft co-founder first crossed paths with the Russian card whiz in late 2009 at a bridge tournament in Washington, DC.

In a video posted online in 2010, Antonova had talked about meeting Gates at the North American Bridge Championships a year earlier.

“I didn’t beat him, but I tried to kick him with my leg,” she said in the video.

What do we know about the alleged affair?

It isn’t clear exactly when Gates and Antonova embarked on their alleged romantic tryst or how long it may have gone on.

But at the time, Gates was married to wife Melinda, with whom he shares three children.

The couple divorced in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

How did Mila meet Jeffrey Epstein?

Antonova was introduced to Epstein when she was seeking funds to launch an online business dedicated to teaching people how to play bridge.

One of Gates’ top advisers, Boris Nikolic, made the introduction, according to the Journal.

Documents show Antonova met Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse in November 2013, when she told him she was trying to raise $500,000 for her BridgePlanet venture.

A year later, the Russian card player stayed at a New York City apartment provided by the late pedophile financier, but she maintains she “didn’t interact with him or with anyone else while there.”

Antonova said Epstein never ended up investing in her BridgePlanet.

When her plans for the online business failed, Antonova turned to software programming and started asking people to lend her money to kick off a programming boot camp.

Epstein was among those who offered up cash.

“Epstein agreed to pay, and he paid directly to the school,” Antonova told the Journal. “Nothing was exchanged. I don’t know why he did that. When I asked, he said something like he was wealthy and wanted to help people when he could.”

Antonova insisted she didn’t know who the notorious pedophile was when they first met.

“I had no idea that he was a criminal or had any ulterior motive,” she said. “I just thought he was a successful businessman and wanted to help.”

What was Jeffrey Epstein’s role in the alleged affair?

After investing in Antonova’s programming boot camp, Epstein sent an email to Gates in 2017 asking the Microsoft founder to reimburse him for the undisclosed amount.

Epstein fired off the email after Gates declined to join the convicted sex offender’s multibillion-dollar charity he was trying to kick off with JPMorgan Chase, sources told the newspaper.

“Mr Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates,” a rep for Gates said.

The representative said Gates never paid up over the veiled threat and that he had “no financial dealings” with Epstein. 

Gates has previously admitted to and expressed regret for having several meetings with Epstein in the 2010s — after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida on charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution — as part of efforts to raise money for the Gates Foundation.

It wasn’t immediately clear how Epstein learned of the alleged tryst between Gates and Antonova.

Antonova declined to comment on her alleged relationship with Gates.

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