He has since said he regrets meeting with the disgraced financier, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Gates’s spokesman has insisted any meetings were ‘solely for philanthropic purposes’.
He ultimately declined to join Epstein’s charitable fund, and the project did not go ahead.
The then-53-year-old Gates had first met Antonova in the somewhat unlikely setting of the North American Bridge Championship tournament in Washington, DC, in the summer of 2009.
The Microsoft co-founder is a well-known bridge devotee and a regular attendee at the three-times-a-year NABC tournaments.
Antonova, now believed to be 42, is also a keen player and has previously claimed that the card game, which she learned at school in Russia, helped her focus on her studies.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Gates and Antonova for further comment.
Antonova previously told the Wall Street Journal of Epstein: ‘I had no idea that he was a criminal or had any ulterior motive. I just thought he was a successful businessman and wanted to help.’
She added: ‘I am disgusted with Epstein and what he did.’
The revelations continue a brutal week for Gates, who has faced further lurid accusations regarding links with Epstein since a Friday drop by the Department of Justice.
Another email sent earlier the same day claims Gates had pressured his right-hand-man Nikolic into ‘participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate to the ethically unsound’
