Bill Gates’ pal Warren Buffett stopped speaking to him after he was named in the Epstein files

Warren Buffett wasn’t prepared for what the Epstein files revealed — including details about his longtime friend Bill Gates. With the Microsoft co-founder set to testify before Congress, Buffett said he has deliberately kept his distance in case he is called as a witness.

“I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” the billionaire investor said to CNBC about Gates. “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things. At the moment, I could get called as a witness.”

Warren Buffet denied meeting Jeffrey Epstein

Unlike Gates, Buffett said he never metJeffrey Epstein, the convicted offender who took his own life in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal trafficking charges.

When the Justice Department began releasing files related to the investigation in December 2025, it didn’t take long for attention to turn to the tech giant’s relationship with the late financier. However, Gates has denied any wrongdoing, saying his meetings with Epstein were strictly about his global health philanthropy.

“Gates has acknowledged it was a serious error in judgment to meet with Epstein,” a spokesperson for Gates told People. “As he’s stated before, he is committed to answering all questions and demonstrating that he was never a part of Epstein’s criminal activity.”

Bill Gates reportedly admitted to affair

Among the files were Epstein’s draft emails, in which he claimed that Gates had contracted an infection from “Russian girls” and asked him to hide it from his then-wife.

While Gates initially denied the allegations, he recently admitted to having two affairs with Russian women during his marriage to Melinda French Gates. At the same Gates Foundation town hall, he also apologized to staff members for his ties to Jeffrey, while insisting he had done nothing “illicit.”

“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” the billionaire philanthropist reportedly told employees at his charity.

Bill Gates asked to testify before House Committee

According to CBS News, Bill is one of several individuals who have been asked to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in connection with the Epstein investigation.

Warren said that many people were deceived because the disgraced financier was a “con man.”

“It’s astounding to me that anybody could be that successful as a con person. Men are going to like s**, and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and whatever it was, he figured out what their weakness was, and then he would … prey on them,” he continued. “But that doesn’t excuse the people on the other end.”

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet’s decades-long friendship

The future of their decades-long friendship is uncertain, though Warren has contributed more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation since 2006.

The New York Times reported that he stepped down from the charity’s board as a trustee weeks after the former couple announced their divorce in 2021.

“There was a lot I didn’t know. It was very clear I didn’t know a lot of things,” he told CBNC. “I did not ask probing questions. If I thought I had to ask probing questions, I probably wouldn’t have put the money in in the first place.”

Nonetheless, Warren typically donates to the Gates Foundation every June, but this year he’s holding off. “I’ll wait and see what unfolds,” he told the outlet. “The stock isn’t going any place.”