But still, banging a prostitute as a billionaire is kind of pathetic?

He was famous and married. He can't exactly get away with having a regular affair, and if he tried to the woman would probably end up blackmailing him or selling the story to the press.

High end prostitutes are discreet and don't talk about their clients. They are also usually ridiculously attractive (assuming this Russian was high end, but not sure with the STD)

Also there isn't much difference for him between paying the prostitute directly and buying lavish gifts for a woman which he'd be expected to do if he was having an affair with her.

Turns out Gates wasn't always a low T soya boy. Good for him.

He is not after the IRS. He is after the men and women who did it.

From X:

Most people are misunderstanding the Bill Gates email about STDs, drugs, and Russian girls.

It's the closest thing to blackmail I've seen in the Epstein files and it involves Jeffrey Epstein, Boris Nikolic, and Bill Gates.

Epstein sent the emails to himself, but they were written from Nikolic’s perspective.

At the time, Nikolic was Gates’s top scientific investment advisor.

The emails suggest Gates was firing Nikolic in response to marital problems with Melinda.

In June 2013, Nikolic emailed Gates and asked if he wanted to go to the "legendary Crazy Horse in Paris" an erotic show, while they were in France.

Gates declined, saying he would be too tired and didn’t want to take the risk, adding that he might have done it when he was younger.

On July 1, 2013, Gates emailed Nikolic:

"We should meet on Wednesday to discuss your job. There is going to have to be a transition. I feel very bad about it but I don't see a way around it."

Nikolic shared these emails with Epstein. Epstein later commented on the Paris erotic show email, writing:

“This is pretty bad and might have been the cause of her bad mail in paris.”—apparently referring to Melinda.

Nikolic appeared unhappy about being fired while potentially being used as a scapegoat, and he sought greater financial compensation as he prepared to leave and launch his own investment fund.

In these emails, Epstein—writing as Nikolic—references alleged knowledge of Gates’s extramarital affairs, STDs allegedly contracted from Russian women, and drug use as justification for why Nikolic deserved more money.

Taken together, it appears Jeffrey Epstein was drafting or shaping a message for Boris Nikolic that effectively functioned as blackmail, pressuring Bill Gates for financial compensation.

It remains unclear whether Nikolic ultimately sent these messages to Gates.

However, later emails suggest Gates helped Nikolic launch his next investment fund and maintained a working relationship with him afterward.

Epstein later listed Nikolic as a backup executor of his will, indicating the two were close confidants.