00:00Jeffrey Epstein didn't just know Bill Gates.
00:03He was a paid fixer in his orbit.
00:05Fortune investigated newly released DOJ documents to trace three distinct routes through which
00:09Epstein operated to get access to someone who was, at the time, the world's richest
00:14man.
00:15First, Steve Sinowski.
00:17Back in 2012, he was the president of Microsoft Windows and widely seen as the heir to the
00:21CEO job.
00:22Epstein took total control over Sinowski's $14 million exit, worked directly with his
00:27lawyer, and helped shape how the negotiation was represented in SEC filings.
00:32Epstein's fee?
00:33$1 million.
00:34Number two, Boris Nikolic.
00:36He was Gates' chief science advisor and self-described best friend, until he said that a dispute between
00:42Melinda and Bill Gates pushed him out.
00:44Epstein negotiated that exit too, a $5 million advance and backing for a new fund.
00:49Epstein even wrote an early draft of the goodbye email that Gates sent to staff.
00:53That leads us to Mala Antinova, a Russian bridge player that Gates had a relationship
00:57with around 2010.
00:59Epstein paid for her apartment, her coding classes, and wired her cash, the DOJ documents
01:03show.
01:04But she told Fortune that she thought naively that he was doing it for her benefit.
01:08Yet Epstein was tracking down every dollar, and made sure that Gates knew.
01:12And when Gates went silent, Epstein emailed his chief of staff, playing with fire.
01:17When that didn't work, he wrote to Gates directly, I think at some point you want to reimburse
01:21me.
01:21That was January 2019.
01:23Seven months later, Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking.
01:26A month later, he died in jail.
01:28A spokesperson for Gates told Fortune that he never witnessed or engaged in any illicit or
01:33illegal behavior.
01:34You can read our full investigation into Epstein's web of secrets on Fortune.com.
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