Warren Buffett halts Gates Foundation donations after Jeffrey Epstein ties revealed
Warren Buffett has stopped donating money to the Gates Foundation, ending a two-decade philanthropic partnership following revelations about interactions between the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Buffett said on Tuesday he is donating about $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway, comprising 12 million Class B shares, in his annual mid-year donation to four family foundations overseen by his daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter.The announcement by the 95-year-old Berkshire chairman did not mention the Gates Foundation, which has received more than $47 billion of the conglomerate’s stock since Buffett in 2006 made what he called an irrevocable pledge to donate shares throughout his lifetime.Buffett’s donation was more than $4.5 billion last year.“Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034,” Buffett said in a statement.The Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Berkshire did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.Buffett has said that after his death, his children would oversee a charitable trust containing about 99.5% of his remaining wealth.Bill Gates has seen his reputation tarnished following the Department of Justice’s release of files about Epstein in February.These included photos of Gates posing with the financier, and with women whose faces were redacted.Emails also showed communications between Epstein and the foundation’s staff.Last month, Gates told Congress he was introduced to Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution, and four years after Epstein reached a controversial non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.Gates said several subsequent meetings with Epstein focused on possible philanthropy but proved fruitless, and the relationship ended by De...