Emails allegedly from an account linked to Jeffrey Epstein suggest that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates attempted to conceal a sexually transmitted infection from his then-wife Melinda Gates following encounters with “Russian girls.”

Among the 3 million pages of documents made public by the Department of Justice on Friday, a message from the deceased sex offender seems to express resentment toward Gates for terminating their association.

“To make matters worse, you later, with tears in your eyes, begged me to delete emails concerning your STD, your plea for antibiotics to secretly administer to Melinda, and a description of your anatomy,” the email reportedly states.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney-general, announced the document release, which occurred over a month past the December 19 deadline stipulated by legislation requiring the full disclosure of Epstein-related files.

Thus far, the documents have provided minimal new insights into Epstein’s connections with President Donald Trump.

However, they have shed light on Epstein’s ties to influential figures on the center-left, such as former President Bill Clinton, Lord Peter Mandelson—former UK ambassador to the US—and Gates.

Another email reads: “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.

A spokesperson for Gates said the claims were “absolutely absurd and completely false”.

“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 person added.

The Trump administration had initially resisted the publication of all the Epstein files but backed down after bipartisan pressure, including from the president’s allies on the right flank of the Republican Party.

The justice department has insisted it could not release all the files before December 19 because it needed to comb through the documents to protect victims with redactions.

“We redacted every woman depicted in any image or video, with the exception of Ms Maxwell,” Blanche said, referring to Ghislaine Maxwell, a close associate of Epstein who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in his criminal activities. “We did not redact images of any men, unless it was impossible to redact the woman without also redacting the man.”

The deputy attorney-general also sought to defend the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files from critics, including victims of the late sex offender, who have attacked the government for withholding the publication of all the documents for months.

“To the extent that there’s frustration, I understand where that comes from just from what we know about Mr Epstein,” Blanche said. “I hope that the work that the men and women within this department have done over the past two months, hopefully, is able to bring closure.”

But Democrats accused the DoJ of continuing to conceal some of the material, saying the full trove of documents amounted to 6mn pages.

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said: “Donald Trump and his Department of Justice have now made it clear that they intend to withhold roughly 50 per cent of the Epstein files, while claiming to have fully complied with the law. This is outrageous and incredibly concerning.”

The DoJ’s release also shows that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, remained in touch with Epstein long after he had previously claimed to have broken off contact and suggests he had met him after his conviction for underage prostitution more often than previously admitted.

Mountbatten-Windsor said in a BBC television interview in 2019 that he had broken off all contact, after a meeting in December 2010 when he severed ties. He said this had been the only time they met after Epstein’s 2008 conviction on underage prostitution charges.

However, the files show that Mountbatten-Windsor emailed Epstein in March 2011, writing: “Call me please”.

In an earlier email exchange, Epstein wrote in August 2010 to someone appearing to be Mountbatten-Windsor saying he had “a friend”, a 26-year-old identified only as “Irina”, with whom he thought the former prince would enjoy “having dinner”. The exchange came shortly after Epstein’s release from house arrest following his imprisonment for charges of procuring an underage girl for prostitution. The person signing himself as the Duke of York — Mountbatten-Windsor’s then title — wrote to him: “How are you? Good to be free?”

The evidence suggesting that the pair had met more than once after Epstein’s conviction comes from September 2010. The files show that Epstein wrote to Mountbatten-Windsor during a visit to London, suggesting he come over to Buckingham Palace with some women. Mountbatten-Windsor replied “what time and how many?” — although it is not clear whether they actually met.

Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.

Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor