Newly released Justice Department records lay out how Jeffrey Epstein quietly bankrolled Mila Antonova, the Russian bridge player Bill Gates later acknowledged having an affair with. The files show Epstein wiring her money, paying for a coding school program and putting her up in multiple Manhattan apartments between 2013 and 2018. The emails also show Epstein nudging people in Gates’ circle about the expenses and, in January 2019, emailing Gates directly to ask to be repaid. Those exchanges sit inside the larger trove of Epstein documents the department posted earlier this year.
Emails show housing, payments and a blunt ask
According to Fortune, the records include an April 30, 2018 message Epstein sent to Bill Gates’ chief of staff, Larry Cohen, saying he had “put up Mila in New York for the week. I was not there. Playing with fire.” The same reporting flags email threads in which Epstein’s assistants shared apartment door codes and his accountant circulated wire instructions to an entity called Bridge Union so recurring payments could be sent to Antonova.
DOJ files lay out the paper trail
Primary materials in the Justice Department’s public production of the Epstein archive include emails and accounting notes that reference Antonova’s visa, school payments and recurring wires. One January 5, 2019 message in the files shows Epstein writing to Gates, “I think at some point you want to reimburse me… I feel awkward asking.” The relevant records are available through the department’s online Epstein Library and related dataset releases. Justice Department files show the exchanges were circulated among Epstein’s aides and people in Gates’ orbit over several years.
What Gates and Antonova have said
Antonova’s lawyer told Fortune that she “naively accepted” unsolicited gifts from Epstein, that he met her only twice and that she provided no information or services in return. Reporting summarized by The Guardian, drawing on Wall Street Journal coverage, says Gates told foundation staff this year that he had affairs, including with a Russian bridge player, and that he regrets meeting Epstein. Gates has not been accused of a crime and his spokespeople say he “regrets meeting with Epstein.”
Legal fallout and oversight
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and died in custody the following month. The newly public Justice Department production, described as more than 3 million responsive pages posted under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, has sparked renewed interest in Congress. The department’s January release notes that the material includes emails, images and videos drawn from multiple investigations and case files, and lawmakers have called for additional review and testimony. The Justice Department says reviewers worked to redact victim-identifying details while making the records available.
For Manhattan readers, the revelations land close to home. The emails repeatedly reference Upper East Side apartments Epstein maintained in the city, and the New York threads help show how he tried to insert himself into networks around powerful figures. Investigators and congressional panels are likely to keep pulling on those threads as the public Epstein archive continues to yield new exchanges and context.
