Buffett Skips Donation to Gates Fund for 1st Time in 20 Years Amid Epstein Case — Reports
FILE — Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks during a game of bridge after the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Warren Buffett, the 95-year-old US billionaire, has for the first time in two decades skipped his annual donation to the Gates Foundation, pending the outcome of a review into the organization’s ties to infamous late financier Jeffrey Epstein, US media reported, citing sources. Buffett typically donates billions of dollars in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the foundation each June or early July as part of a lifelong pledge he made when forging closer ties with the Gates Foundation, the newspaper reported on Monday. According to the report, the Gates Foundation has retained the WilmerHale law firm to examine its connections to Epstein, with results expected this summer. Buffett and his inner circle have remained in contact with foundation leadership, including CEO Mark Suzman, to gain more clarity on the Epstein ties and conduct their own due diligence, the sources said. Between 2006 and 2025, Buffett contributed approximately $48 billion to the Gates Foundation, the newspaper reported. He stepped down as a foundation trustee in 2021, following Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates’ divorce announcement. In 2024, Buffett told The Wall Street Journal that the foundation would receive no further funds from him after his death. The relationship between Buffett and his long-time friend Gates had already soured following the release of Justice Department documents related to the Epstein case, the newspaper reported. On January 30, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that all the materials related to the Epstein case had been released. With the latest disclosure, the total volume of released data exceeds 3.5 million files. It includes mention of numerous powerful figures, including Gates, former US President Bill Clinton, and others. According to the documents, private correspondence contained details of Gates’ attempts to conceal intimate relationships with certain women, as well as evidence of his covert use of medical treatments following those encounters.
EconomyWarren Buffett: The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing of Wall Street8 April 2025, 18:39 GMT
