Jeffrey Epstein discovered Bill Gates' connection with a Russian bridge player and later appeared to use his knowledge to threaten one of the world's richest men, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday citing people familiar with the matter.

The Microsoft co-founder met the woman in her twenties in about 2010. Epstein met her in 2013 and later sponsored her attendance at a software coding school. According to persons familiar with the situation, Epstein wrote Gates in 2017 and requested reimbursement for the cost of the course.

The email came after the convicted sex offender struggled and failed to persuade Gates to join a multibillion-dollar nonprofit fund Epstein attempted to establish with JPMorgan Chase. According to others who saw the communication, the suggestion was that Epstein may unmask the affair if Gates did not maintain contact between the two men.

A spokesperson for Gates affirmed the exchange, stressing that “Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates.”

The new information regarding Epstein and Gates added another degree of complication to their connection and included additional insight into Epstein's behavior. 

Gates, who has a net worth of more than $100 billion and is one of the world's biggest philanthropists, was one of the most well-known names on Epstein's calendar.

Gates' ties with Epstein would finally end his 27-year marriage to Melinda French Gates. French Gates told CBS News in 2022, a year after divorcing the software billionaire, that her ex-husband's relationship with Epstein was "one of many things" that led to the divorce.

Epstein and Gates first met in 2011, following Epstein's conviction for recruiting a kid for prostitution. According to a 2019 New York Times article, the couple met "many times", with Gates telling associates that Epstein's lifestyle was "very different and kind of intriguing, although it would not work for me."

Gates now calls his association with Epstein "a mistake", telling CBS News that he should have followed his ex-wife's counsel and severed ties with the child molester "sooner than I did."

According to The Wall Street Journal's sources, the cost of Antonova's coding lessons was "immaterial for the two men," and Gates did not pay. 

Epstein's email was sent to inform Gates that he "knew about the affair and could expose it," the same sources stressed.

Scandalous ties

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal revealed in a report that Epstein's affiliates included world-famous names, which have remained secret until the newspaper was able to put its hand on new documents exposing their ties with the financier.

CIA chief

Among the names was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency William Burns, who assumed his position in 2021.

According to the documents, in 2014, Burns, who served as Deputy Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama, had three meetings scheduled with Epstein. Burns met Epstein in Washington and visited him, for the first time, in the latter's townhouse in Manhattan, the report added.

In Washington, on August 2014, a "lunch was planned" at the office of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson. Later, according to the new documents, Epstein had scheduled two evening appointments in September at his townhouse. The documents also revealed that Epstein "planned for his driver to take Mr. Burns to the airport" after one of the appointments.

Alternatively, CIA Spokesperson Tammy Kupperman Thorp argued, “The director did not know anything about him [Epstein], other than that he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector and offered general advice on the transition to the private sector,” adding, “They had no relationship.”

Soon after the scheduled meetings, Burns stepped down from his position at the State Department and was offered the presidency position at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In 2021, US President Joe Biden called on Burns to serve as a CIA director.

Obama's counsel

The White House counsel under President Barack Obama, Kathryn Ruemmler, conducted dozens of meetings with Epstein according to the WSJ report.

It was even noted that the two appeared to know each other pretty well, to the extent that Epstein had scheduled visits to apartments she looked into buying and asked his assistant to upgrade Ruemmler to First Class on certain flights he knew she would be having.

Ruemmler, who in 2020 became a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., was also invited to join Epstein on a trip to Paris in 2015 and a trip to his private Caribbean Island in 2017.

Ruemmler, at the time, was a partner specializing in white-collar defense at Latham & Watkins. It has been alleged that Ruemmler had more than three dozen appointments with Epstein in her capacity as a partner at the law firm.

Despite that, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said Ruemmler never visited his island and “never accepted an invitation or an opportunity to fly with Jeffrey Epstein anywhere."

“It was the same kinds of contacts and engagements she had with other contacts and clients.”

Read more: Chelsea Manning: Epstein was murdered

Edmond de Rothschild Group CEO

As part of Epstein's public relations approach, the sex offender had also connected Ruemmler with Ariane de Rothschild, who currently serves as CEO of the Edmond de Rothschild Group.

Back then Rothschild's bank had hired Ruemmler's firm following the introduction by Epstein.

According to the emails, WSJ revealed, Epstein had sought Rothschild's help with certain staffing and furniture endeavors. Moreover, the two discussed a number of business deals.

According to the emails, in 2013, Epstein asked Rothschild for help in "finding a new assistant." The email specified "female…multilingual, organized,” to which Rothschild responded, “I’ll ask around.”

The documents also revealed that Epstein discussed with his staff, previously, if Ruemmler would be uncomfortable seeing young women working around the townhouse as his assistants and staffers. 

Similarly, Helen Fisher, an anthropologist who studies romantic love and attachment who had visited Epstein once, allegedly, in 2016, said Epstein invited her to speak with his staff. “Six young women,” Fisher said, “All of them good-looking. All of them young.” 

As for the bank CEO, Rothschild had allegedly bought "nearly $1 million worth of auction items on Epstein’s behalf in 2014 and 2015," WSJ wrote.

In October of 2015, just after Rothschild was named chairwoman of the bank, the two negotiated a $25 million contract for Epstein’s Southern Trust Co. to provide “risk analysis and the application and use of certain algorithms” for the bank the newspaper revealed.

After Epstein was charged, the first response from the bank's spokesperson was that Rothschild never met with Epstein and that she had no business links with the sex offender.

Soon after, the bank acknowledged to the Journal that its earlier statement was false and that the two had indeed met but only in the context of normal bank duties, adding that Epstein offered the bank great introductions to US finance leaders; he also "recommended law firms and provided ax and risk consulting."

Read more: Convict Ghislaine Maxwell appeals over 'inhumane conditions'

Former Israeli PM and Henry Kissinger affiliate

Among other regular guests, Epstein met with Joshua Cooper Ramo, then co-chief executive of Henry Kissinger’s corporate consulting firm.

Epstein even introduced Ramo to Rothschild during one of their gatherings, according to the report.

Ramo visited Epstein often, the documents show, and often the visits were confined to the latter's townhouse after 5:00 pm. Epstein knew Ramo well enough to request special snacks, believing Ramo, who at the time served on the boards of Starbucks Corp. and FedEx Corp, was a vegetarian.

The documents also revealed that Ramo also once met another of Epstein's regular guests, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Barak confirmed that he "often met with Epstein on trips to New York" and explained that Epstein "often brought other interesting persons, from art or culture, law or science, finance, diplomacy or philanthropy.”

Unlike Ruemmler, Rothschild, Gates, and Burns, Barak never said he regrets having met Epstein.