Warren Buffett halts billion-dollar donation as Gates Foundation probes Epstein links
Warren Buffett skipped his annual billion-dollar donation to the Gates Foundation while he awaits a review of the charity’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
For the first time in two decades, the famed investor broke his annual giving tradition following revelations in the Epstein files about the potential extent of Bill Gates’ relationship with the paedophile.
The Gates Foundation has faced significant controversy after emails released by the US Department of Justice in January showed Epstein was in contact with the non-profit’s staff.
The foundation launched an independent review into its ties with Epstein in April.
Buffett, 95, is delaying his decision until after the findings are released this summer, people familiar with his plans told the Wall Street Journal.
The Berkshire Hathaway chairman has given roughly US$48 billion ($84.6b) to the Gates Foundation, typically transferring shares in June each year as part of a “lifetime” pledge he made in 2006.
Buffett said in March that he had not spoken to Gates, a decades-old friend, since the release of the Epstein files.
Gates’ name appeared extensively within the millions of documents related to the convicted sex offender released by the US Government. There are at least two photos of Gates with women whose faces are redacted. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Before the release of the documents, it was already known that Gates had a relationship with Epstein beginning in 2011 – almost three years after he was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a minor. The pair reportedly cut ties in 2014.
The Microsoft founder and world’s leading global health philanthropist has called his relationship with him “a huge mistake”. He has strongly denied claims of personal wrongdoing.
Buffett stepped down as a trustee of the Gates Foundation in 2021 after Bill and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce.
He said in 2024 that the foundation would be given no more of his money after he dies. That same year, French Gates left the nonprofit she co-founded to concentrate on her own philanthropic work.
On June 10, Gates returned to the spotlight when he named three women he had extramarital affairs with as he testified in front of the House Oversight Committee.
According to a transcript released last week, he admitted to affairs with two Russian women – Mila Antonova, a bridge player, and Karima Nigmatulina, a nuclear physicist – and with an unnamed female scientist.
Questioned by US Congressmen, the billionaire again denied any sexual misconduct but agreed he “may have been in the presence of victims” unknowingly while meeting Epstein.
He was also asked about an unsealed 2013 email Epstein sent to himself, alleging Gates asked for antibiotics he could “surreptitiously give” to French Gates – his wife at the time – after catching a sexually transmitted infection. He has denied this.
In the closed-door interview, he admitted telling an associate he might have caught an infection through one of his affairs. “But I have never had an STD,” he added.
Gates claimed Epstein used compromising information about his past extramarital affairs to pressure him in 2014.
The philanthropist admitted to Gates Foundation staff in February that he had two affairs, later discovered by Epstein, but said they did not involve victims of the paedophile.
The Telegraph has reached Berkshire Hathaway and the Gates Foundation for comment.
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