Warren Buffett spent two decades as the single largest benefactor of Bill Gates’ philanthropy, the Gates Foundation, having donated about $48 billion.
Earlier this month, he walked away due to concerns about the Gates Foundation’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—a relationship Buffett had recently called “distasteful.” Now a review of Gates’ dealings with Epstein shows the relationship Buffett distanced himself from was closer than previously known.
Gates and his foundation met with the convicted sex offender more than two dozen times even though employees had expressed concerns about the risk of working with him, according to an external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation and conducted by law firm WilmerHale.
The roughly 30 meetings included several visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and one meeting on the foundation’s own campus. Gates knew about Epstein’s sex offense throughout.
“Earlier this year, the foundation acknowledged that it regretted having any employees interact with Epstein in any way,” according to a Gates Foundation statement. To be sure, the review found no evidence the foundation paid Epstein. “It also found no evidence of participation in, or knowledge of, Epstein’s ongoing sex trafficking operations or criminal activities,” the statement continued.
Still, the review showed engagement with Epstein from 2011-2014 primarily focused on two matters: a proposed donor-advised fund to pool contributions from high-net-worth people to support global public health and the International Peace Institute (IPI), a nonprofit Epstein introduced to the Chair.
“The work we do depends on integrity and earning and maintaining the trust of partners,” said Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, who commissioned the review. “That’s why we welcome the findings of this external review and are moving forward with Board-approved actions to strengthen further how we vet partners, manage risk and ensure accountability going forward.”
Still, Buffett had decided to pull his funding ahead of this decision, which could signal his uneasiness about the Gates Foundation’s relationship with Epstein.
Just last week, Buffett omitted the Gates Foundation from his annual charitable stock gifts for the first time since 2006, instead directing roughly $6 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four foundations run by or named for his family. In two decades, Buffett had given the Gates Foundation about $48 billion. Now, one of the largest philanthropic relationships in history has ended.
Buffett has offered more than one explanation for pulling his funding from the Gates Foundation. He told CNBC his children are getting older and ready to distribute his wealth, and he accelerated his giving timeline to 2034.
But he had also held off on his annual Gates gift while awaiting the outcome of the Epstein review, according to The Wall Street Journal. In a March interview with CNBC‘s Becky Quick, Buffett said he had not spoken with Gates “at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” adding that until it “gets cleared up,” he didn’t think it made sense “to do a lot of talking.”
To be sure, the review found no evidence of wrongdoing by the foundation, and Buffett has not framed his exit purely as a rebuke. The 2006 pledge he made to Bill and Melinda French Gates was contingent on at least one of them staying active in the foundation, and Buffett has emphasized his children’s readiness over any single controversy. The foundation does not accept public donations, directing supporters to give to its grantees instead.
French Gates left the foundation in 2024 and started her own philanthropy, Pivotal Ventures. The Gates Foundation also announced last year it will spend down its entire endowment and close permanently on Dec. 31, 2045.