Epstein emails mention Bill Gates got STI from ‘Russian girls’, billionaire denies 'completely false' claims

The U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 30, 2026, released more than three million files connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal investigations.

Emails Epstein apparently sent himself

Two emails that Epstein sent to himself on Jul. 18, 2013, apparently from an account that belonged to him, contained allegations that the billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had extramarital "sex with Russian girls", CBS News reported.

One email was titled, "Bill", People reported.

The allegations also included the claim that Gates got a sexually transmitted infection that required antibiotics and he tried to hide it.

Epstein also claimed in an email that Gates sought to "surreptitiously give" the antibiotics to his then-wife Melinda French Gates.

Bill and Melinda divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Gates' representative responds

“These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false," a spokesperson for the philanthropist said in a statement.

“The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” the statement read.

What email said

Epstein, who died in prison in August 2019 while facing charges in a sprawling sex trafficking case, appeared to have taken issue with Gates for ending their relationship, Financial Times reported.

“TO add insult to injury you then subsequently with tears in your eyes, implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you with antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda, and the description of your penis,” the message by Epstein read.

Another email read: “I have been asked and wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound... From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trysts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro [sic] bridge tournaments.”

Context of Epstein emails

Both emails, sent from Epstein's email account and back to the same account, were unsigned.

Moreover, no email account associated with Gates could be seen and both emails.

This has led to a number of interpretations of the content of the emails and their purpose.

The email that complained about having had to procure medicine for Gates was apparently written as a resignation letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The drafted emails were thought to be written for Boris Nikolic, an adviser to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, People reported.

But there is no indication that the former adviser was aware of the emails or the unsubstantiated allegations, The Sunday Times reported.

Nikolic, a physician and biotech venture capitalist, resigned as chief adviser for science and technology to the Gates Foundation in 2014.

In 2019, a spokesperson for Nikolic said he had no business ties with Epstein, Bloomberg reported.

Top photos via Wikimedia & police handout