Warren Buffett to stop donating to Gates Foundation after Epstein saga? Billionaire will ‘wait and see what unfolds’

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett stated that he will no longer donate to the Gates Foundation, to which he donated billions of dollars. This comes after Gates Foundation founder Bill Gates was recently linked to the infamous Jefferey Epstein files, which revealed his connection to the convicted sex offender.

In his first televised interview since stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway in January, Buffett told CNBC that he wasn’t ready to commit to continuing his multibillion-dollar annual donations to the Gates Foundation.

Recent Epstein files have exposed the late sex offender’s relationship with the nonprofit and its co-founder Bill Gates.

In materials recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice in February, it was revealed that Gates and Epstein met repeatedly to discuss philanthropy after Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in Florida in 2008.

“We’ll wait and see… I don’t have to make that decision today. And I didn’t make it today,” Buffett said in the interview.

Declining to commit to making investments at the Gates Foundation, he said, “I’ve learned things I didn’t know about something for all these years.”

Warren Buffett no longer talks to Bill Gates

In an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffett revealed that he hasn’t spoken to Gates “since everything came out.”

When asked if he was still “good friends” with Bill Gates, Buffett explained that the two “had great times together.”

But the Berkshire Hathaway founder noted: “Until the issue is clear… I don’t think it makes sense to talk too much.”

“I don’t want to be under oath in terms of trying to remember 30 years or 20 years of completion of the foundation or anything like that.”

Speaking further about his donations, Buffett said, “I had nothing to do with it other than I put in the money.”

“But the investor said he didn’t think Gates had anything to do with the girls or the island or anything like that,” he said, adding that he wanted to learn more as the disclosures came.

Buffett, who called Epstein a “sensational hustler,” said he was glad he never approached him.

Buffett, who remains Berkshire’s chairman, began distributing his wealth in 2006, donating more than $47 billion of the conglomerate’s shares to the Gates Foundation.

He donated his Berkshire shares to the foundation and four family charities at midyear each year, and made additional donations to family charities in November. Last year, Gates Foundation giving totaled more than $4.5 billion.

Buffett said his donations to the Gates Foundation in 2024 will end when he dies, and 99.5% of his remaining wealth will go to a charity run by his children.

In February, shortly after the revelations, the Gates Foundation said Bill Gates “takes responsibility for his actions” when the Microsoft co-founder discussed Epstein in a town hall meeting with employees.

A spokesman said in a statement: “Gates acknowledged that meeting with Epstein was a serious error of judgment. As he has previously stated, he is committed to answering all questions and demonstrating that he was never part of Epstein’s criminal activity.”