Bill Gates is facing renewed scrutiny after Warren Buffett withheld his annual donation to the Gates Foundation while awaiting the review into his ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Bill Gates is facing renewed scrutiny after longtime friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett reportedly withheld his annual donation to the Gates Foundation while awaiting the outcome of an internal review into the foundation’s ties to convicted s** offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Buffet has paused his customary midyear gift to the foundation for the first time in two decades. He began donating to the organization in 2006 after pledging most of his fortune to it.
Buffett pledged in 2006 to donate most of his fortune to Gates Foundation, giving $48 billion since then. By: ZUMA Press / MEGA
Epstein files and Gates’ reputation
Gates’ public standing came under renewed pressure after the U.S. Department of Justice released a large batch of Epstein-related documents in February, including emails and records detailing the financier’s relationship with the Microsoft co-founder.
Gates apologized to staff at a foundation town hall, calling his association with Epstein a ‘huge mistake.’ By: John Taggart/CNP/Newscom / MEGA
Gates has not been accused of any crime and has repeatedly said he neither witnessed nor participated in any criminal conduct involving Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on s** trafficking charges.
Gates first met Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Gates has said he did not learn Epstein was a registered s** offender until 2018, after Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown published an investigation into Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.
Gates’ Congressional Testimony
Testifying before the House Oversight Committee on June 10, Gates described his association with Epstein as a “grave error in judgment” while again denying he witnessed or engaged in any criminal behavior.
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In a statement issued after the testimony, the Gates Foundation said Gates “spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail.”
During the hearing, Gates also disclosed that he had been unfaithful during his marriage to Melinda French Gates, referencing two affairs, one with a Russian bridge player he met through bridge events and another with a Russian nuclear physicist he met through business activities.
Epstein allegedly threatened Gates in 2017 by exposing his affair with bridge player Mila Antonova. By: DCJS/MEGA
He also told foundation staff during a town hall, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” in relation to his dealings with Epstein.
Strained friendship with Buffett
The relationship between Buffett and Gates, which began in the early 1990s and helped shape one of the largest philanthropic partnerships in modern history, has cooled since the Justice Department and Congress began releasing Epstein-related files in late 2025.
Buffett confirmed on CNBC he has not spoken to Gates since DOJ released millions of Epstein files. By: ZUMA Press / MEGA
“I haven’t [spoken to Gates]. No. I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled. I don’t want to be in a position where I know things at the moment. I could get called as a witness,” Buffet said.
When asked whether he still planned to honor his pledge to the foundation, Buffett replied, “Well, yeah, actually, I agreed to do it every year, but I’ve done it around June 30 most of the time and I’ll wait and see what unfolds.”
During his June House Oversight deposition, Gates confirmed that he and Buffett had not spoken since January, the same month the Justice Department released roughly three million pages of documents, along with thousands of images and videos, related to the Epstein investigation.