EXCLUSIVEJeffrey Epstein 'tunneled' his way into Bill Gates's orbit costing the billionaire his marriage and almost shattering his reputation, new book reveals
- Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King lifts the lid on Gates and Epstein's relationship
- Epstein used Gates's The Giving Pledge charity to 'tunnel his way into' his orbit
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Bill Gates was at one point the 'brightest star' in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit but became a target for the late pedophile after their short-lived partnership collapsed, a new book claims.
Epstein had set his sights on Gates in 2010 when the Microsoft founder and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett launched The Giving Pledge, a charitable campaign under which they vowed to donate 99 percent of their wealth.
To Epstein, their charitable initiative was a potential new 'way to make money' and restore his public image, according to new biography, Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World.
It would allow Epstein to launder his reputation after his 2008 conviction for procuring underaged girls saw him serve a brief stint in jail and made him a registered sex offender.
In the book, set to be released August 13, New York Times journalist Anupreeta Das writes that Epstein then began to 'tunnel his way into Gates's orbit' with spectacular results.
Bill Gates is pictured at Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2011, from left: Jes Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Epstein; Gates and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's science adviser
According to a new book, Epstein began to tunnel himself into Gates's orbit after the Microsoft founder and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett announced their charitable campaign The Giving Pledge in 2010
The two men became friends as they worked on a health fund for billionaires with Gates even calling Epstein 'my buddy'.
Epstein's outrageous lifestyle was an 'adventure' for nerdy Gates who chafed at his overscheduled life married to a wife committed to monogamy, Das writes.
Emails between the two men even referred to Gates visiting one of Epstein's homes for 'Big Macs', which some took to mean young girls.
Gates, 68, denies most of the accusations in the book, saying Das relied 'almost exclusively on second- and third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources'.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, he added: 'The book includes highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods that ignore the actual documented facts our office provided to the author on numerous occasions.
'Mr. Gates has previously stated his deep regret for ever meeting with Epstein, who he met with for discussions regarding philanthropy only.'
But Das's book puts a fresh spotlight on his relationship with Epstein, which is seen as having cost him his marriage to Melinda French Gates.
Melinda only met Epstein once in 2013 and told her husband he was 'evil personified' but Gates inexplicably carried on seeing him anyway.
While the world saw the Giving Pledge in 2010 as an extraordinary gesture by the world's two richest men, Epstein just saw another lucrative opportunity.
Das, 46, writes that Epstein saw that much of Buffett's money would be distributed through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 'began to tunnel a way into (Gates's) orbit'.
New biography, Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World, will be released on August 13
Epstein, who counted Britain's Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, and Bill Clinton among his associates, saw Gates as more valuable than anyone else.
The money element was the key and Epstein saw a way to do what he had always done: connect people and make a fortune for himself.
By August 2010, 40 billionaires had signed up to the Giving Pledge and many turned to Gates for advice about how to give away their money.
They did not have experience setting up their own foundations yet Gates did.
As a result, Das writes: 'Of all the stars that studded Epstein's dark universe, Gates was the brightest'.
Their first meeting was in the summer of 2011 after Epstein pitched Gates a health-based fund for billionaires.
The introduction came through Epstein friend, neurosurgeon Melanie Walker, and Boris Nikolic, the former chief advisor on science and technology to Gates.
Epstein would later name Nikolic as executor of his will days before committing suicide, in a move that is believed to have been intended to undermine Gates.
According to Das, Gates had been 'receptive' to Epstein's idea and didn't appear to have even done a Google search to vet the pedophile.
Had he done so, he would have seen that Epstein had served a 15 month prison term for soliciting minors for prostitution.
As the talks progressed, Epstein roped in JP Morgan to manage a 'very high profile' group of donors each worth at least $100million.
Reports at the time said that Gates flew on Epstein's plane and had at least six meetings with him including dinners at the pedophile's New York townhouse.
Gates told a colleague in 2011 that Epstein's 'lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me'.
Buffett and Gates vowed to give away their combined $155billion fortune through the charity, which also encouraged other billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth to good causes
Bill and Melinda Gates in 2018, three years before they announced their split. In a CBS interview after the divorce, Melinda said she warned her then husband that he should never again meet with Epstein after she went to his house in 2013
Gates and Epstein met numerous times beginning in 2011 - after he was convicted of sex crimes. In fact, Gates visited Epstein at least three times at Epstein's New York City townhouse
One Epstein victim, a Polish model, met Gates at his Microsoft office in Seattle and even posed for a photo with him.
The woman, who was in her 20s at the time, has said that she recalled people looking at her as if to ask: 'What is she doing there?'
According to Das, Epstein was an 'adventure' for Gates and referred to him at least one time as 'my buddy'.
In an ominous passage, Das writes that Gates 'chose not to listen' to warnings about Epstein as the pedophile 'could offer him something that was worth putting (his) image risk aside for'.
Epstein spent months trying to get the fund off the ground but in the end it came to nothing.
One source said that the 'incentives were misaligned': Epstein wanted the connections, JP Morgan wanted to run the fund, and Gates just wanted money for vaccines.
The last known contact between Gates and Epstein was in 2014 and their friendship would have likely not become public had Epstein not been arrested in 2019.
While the pedophile hanged himself a few months later, anyone who had ever dealt with him got caught in the blast radius.
The reports about Gates were deeply unflattering, including how he turned to Epstein for advice about his 'toxic' marriage.
Epstein counseled him to get a divorce, and Gates had enjoyed the 'boys club' atmosphere at Epstein's homes.
One of the most embarrassing episodes to come out of Gates's friendship with Epstein was his affair with Mila Antonova, a Russian who he met at a bridge tournament.
Epstein also met Antonova, paid for her to attend a software coding course, and let her stay at one of his apartments in New York.
Reports have claimed that in 2017, Epstein emailed Gates and asked to be reimbursed for the cost of the course.
According to the Wall St Journal, the 'tone of the message was that Epstein knew about the affair and could expose it' in apparent retribution for not taking part in his health fund.
In the book, Das faults the 'Gates media machine' for its handling of the crisis.
They tried to 'shut down' the story with denials but then had to backtrack and admit some of the events when proof came to light.
Bill Gates had an affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova around 2010 and Jeffrey Epstein is reported to have tried to extort him over the relationship
Gates was introduced to Epstein by Boris Nikolic, who serves as science adviser to Gates' foundation. Epstein would later name Nikolic as a executor of his will days before committing suicide in 2019, in a move that was believed to have been to undermine Gates
The prestigious university MIT even launched an investigation amid claims that Epstein directed a $2million donation to the college on behalf of Gates.
Das writes that the money was used to seek other donations with donors being told that the money was really from Gates.
Author Anupreeta Das
In one of the most shocking passages of the book, Das writes: 'Gates was often mentioned in the thousands of emails that lawyers reviewed between Epstein and MIT employees.
'There were references to Gates visiting Epstein's residences, and Epstein arranging for "Big Macs" which one of the people said referred to Epstein's interest in young girls – and also the food he was sometimes known to serve to his guests at his Manhattan townhouse, on silver platters.'
Epstein has used code words with another of his close associates: Jes Staley, who was head of JP Morgan at the time Epstein was trying to set up the fund with Gates.
Emails between the two revealed in court documents have shown that they both made suggestive references to Disney princesses.
In one message from 2010, Staley wrote to Epstein: 'Say hi to Snow White' and asked if 'Beauty and the Beast' was free.
Epstein replied: 'Well, one side is available', apparently referring to Beauty.
In another message Epstein sent Staley a picture of a young woman, to which Staley replied: 'Don't tell me, a French wine'.
Epstein replied: 'Always thoughts of alcohol'.
A spokeswoman for Staley has previously denied he used code words with Epstein and denied wrongdoing.
Speaking to CBS after the divorce, Melinda French Gates said that she made it 'very clear' to her former husband that he should never again meet with Epstein after she went to his house in 2013.
Melinda said: 'I wanted to see who this man was and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.
'He was abhorrent, he was evil personified, I had nightmares about it afterwards.
'My heart breaks for these young women because that's how I felt and I'm an older woman. My god I feel terrible for those women, it's awful. He was awful'.
