--- alias: - Boris Nikolić - Boris Nikolic, M.D. - Dr. Boris Nikolic category: Technologists created: 2026-09-25 location: Seattle, Washington relations: - fn: 1 role: managing partner start: 2014-04 type: head_of with: '[[Biomatics Capital]]' - fn: 1 role: managing partner and managing director start: 2015-02 type: head_of with: '[[bng0 LLC]]' - fn: 1 role: board member start: 2015-08 type: director_of with: '[[Editas Medicine]]' summary: Croatian-trained immunologist and biotech investor, Bill Gates's science adviser from 2009 to 2014, who linked Gates to Jeffrey Epstein and was named backup executor in Epstein's final will. tags: - Person - BorisNikolic - BillGates - JeffreyEpstein - JPMorgan - Biotechnology - VentureCapital updated: 2026-09-25 --- Boris Nikolic is a Croatian-trained physician and immunologist who was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School from 2002 to 2010, chief advisor for science and technology to [Bill Gates](/people/bill-gates/) at Gates's private office, bgC3, from April 2009 to April 2014, and since then a venture investor in life-sciences companies through Biomatics Capital and bng0, LLC. Through Nikolic, [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) reached Gates after his 2008 conviction; Epstein copied him on his 2011 proposals to [JPMorgan Chase](/organizations/jpmorgan-chase/) for a large charitable fund, JPMorgan's internal review listed him among Epstein's referrals to the bank, and Epstein's will of August 8, 2019 named him backup executor, a role Nikolic said he had never been consulted about and would not accept.[^1][^2][^3] ### Harvard, Gates and Biomatics According to the proxy statements of Editas Medicine, whose board he joined in August 2015, Nikolic earned his medical degree at Zagreb Medical School in Croatia, was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School from 2002 to 2010, served "as Chief Advisor for Science and Technology to Bill Gates at bgC3, a think tank" from April 2009 to April 2014, has been managing partner of the investment fund Biomatics Capital since April 2014 and managing partner of bng0, LLC since February 2015. He served on the boards of Digisight Technologies and Omniome and previously of Schrödinger and BlueTalon. In 2017 bng0, of which he was managing director, held 2,649,572 Editas shares, 6.4 percent of the company, from an address in Seattle.[^1] ### Epstein, Gates and JPMorgan *Bloomberg* reported in 2019 that Nikolic had been introduced to Epstein by Melanie Walker, that Gates's contact with Epstein ran through him, and that both Nikolic and Epstein were private-banking clients of JPMorgan, where people familiar with the bank said Epstein helped bankers attract wealthy clients.[^2] On July 27, 2011, while Nikolic was working for Gates, Epstein wrote to JPMorgan executives [Jes Staley](/people/jes-staley/) and [Mary Erdoes](/people/mary-erdoes/), copying Nikolic, that for a proposed charitable fund "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," with "silos for Medicine, Science , Women issues, Education, etc.," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^4] A month later he warned Staley and Erdoes that senior staff at the Gates foundation were "getting confusing messages from JPM."[^5] JPMorgan's 2019 internal review of Epstein's emails, Project Jeep, recorded what the [Government of the United States Virgin Islands](/organizations/government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands/) described in 2023 as "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including Andrew Farkas, Nikolic, Gates and [Peter Mandelson](/people/peter-mandelson/). [Jamie Dimon](/people/jamie-dimon/) was questioned about Nikolic at his deposition and testified of Epstein's referrals, "We did not need introductions to anybody"; the bank's lawyers said the underlying emails showed Epstein mentioning prominent people but contained no evidence that he had referred them or that they became clients because of him.[^6][^7] On July 22, 2013 Epstein wrote to Nikolic and Terje Rod-Larsen, president of the International Peace Institute: "ipi has not heard from gabriella ."[^8] In November 2013 Nikolic and the Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, whom he had introduced to Epstein, met Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse to pitch an online bridge-teaching venture; Epstein did not invest, and later used Gates's past relationship with Antonova to press him, according to *[The Wall Street Journal](/organizations/the-wall-street-journal/)*.[^9] On April 13, 2018 Epstein sent Nikolic, without comment, a link to a 2015 *Forbes* article headlined "Charlie Sheen's $10M Blackmail Tax Deduction."[^10] ### The Backup Executor Epstein's will, signed on August 8, 2019, two days before his death, named his lawyers [Darren Indyke](/people/darren-indyke/) and [Richard Kahn](/people/richard-kahn/) as executors and Nikolic as successor executor, who would take control of the estate if they could not serve. Nikolic, then 49, said he was "shocked" and "was never consulted on these matters and has no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever," and filed no oath of acceptance; a spokesperson said he and Epstein had no business ties.[^2][^3] [^1]: Editas Medicine, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), filed April 26, 2017, director biography of Boris Nikolic, M.D., and security ownership table, note 5. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650664/000104746917002939/a2231931zdef14a.htm [^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates," *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates [^3]: James Leggate, "Who is Boris Nikolic? Epstein-named executor is former Bill Gates adviser," *Fox Business,* August 20, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/who-is-boris-nikolic-epstein-executor [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, cc Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf [^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf [^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, ECF No. 191, June 7, 2023 (filed June 20, 2023). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf [^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808625, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter of John J. Butts, WilmerHale, opposing the motion to reopen depositions, ECF No. 187, June 9, 2023 (filed June 15, 2023), citing Dimon deposition transcript 395:14-21. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf [^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02572271, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic and Terje Rod-Larsen, July 22, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02572271.pdf [^9]: Safdar, Khadeeja, and Emily Glazer. "Jeffrey Epstein Apparently Threatened Bill Gates Over Affair." *The Wall Street Journal,* May 21, 2023; summarized in "WSJ: Jeffrey Epstein threatened Bill Gates over affair with Russian bridge player." *Boing Boing,* May 22, 2023. https://boingboing.net/2023/05/22/wsj-jeffrey-epstein-threatened-bill-gates-over-affair-with-russian-bridge-player.html [^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02476126, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic, April 13, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02476126.pdf