Gates Foundation reviewing Jeffrey Epstein ties, will slash staff: WSJ
Bill Gates speaks at the Gates Foundation’s first global Goalkeepers event in the Nordic countries on January 22, 2026 in Stockholm, Sweden.
TT News Agency | Stefan Jerrevang | via Reuters
Gates Foundation launched an external review into the charity’s past ties to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Wall StreetJournal It was reported on Tuesday.
The Gates Foundation will lay off up to 500 people, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030 to cut costs, the Journal reported, citing an email the newspaper sent to staff announcing a review of both the firings and the Epstein ties.
“This is a challenging time for our organization in many ways, but it also underscores the critical importance of taking challenging steps now,” Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman reportedly said in the memo.
The foundation, which has a 2026 budget of about $9 billion, plans to limit operating expenses to $1.25 billion, the Journal said.
Founded by Gates Foundation Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates.
Gates is scheduled to be interviewed about Epstein on June 10. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“For context, as we noted to the WSJ, none of the ‘announcements’ in today’s article are new,” the Gates Foundation said in an email to CNBC.
“These were included in CEO Mark Suzman’s update to all foundation employees on a variety of matters related to foundation operations,” the foundation said. he said. press releases budget limit and Review of Epstein’s relationships with the foundation released earlier this year.
In February, Bill Gates apologized to foundation staff for his relationship with Epstein and admitted that he had affairs with two Russian women that Epstein had learned: Magazine has been reported previously.
According to the newspaper, Gates told the staff, “I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t see anything illegal.”
Gates befriended Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.
Epstein killed himself in a New York City federal prison in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on child sex trafficking charges.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett told CNBC in March that he had not spoken to Gates since details of Epstein’s communications with Gates were revealed in documents released by Congress and the Justice Department.
“I don’t want to be in a position where I know things and be called as a witness,” said Buffett, who has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation since 2006.
