Warren Buffett revealed that he cut ties with former friend and collaborator Bill Gates after the Microsoft founder was mentioned in the Epstein files.
Gates has referred to his friendship with the late financier as a “huge mistake,” though he denied being involved in or having knowledge of any illegal activities. Instead, he said his connection to Epstein stemmed from the philanthropic work they shared.
“I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” Buffett told CNBC on Tuesday (March 31), referring to the release of files related to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
Image credits: Getty/Chip Somodevilla
“I don’t want to be in a position where I know things…to be called as a witness.”
The investor added, “I think until it gets clear up, it doesn’t make sense to do a lot of talking…I don’t want to be under oath.”
Buffett described Epstein as a successful manipulator.
Image credits: Getty/Monica Schipper
“That guy must have been the con man of all time. He had a way of conning everybody,” he said. “Men are going to like s*x…and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and he figured out their weaknesses.”
Since 2006, Buffett has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
The Berkshire Hathaway chairman said he was grateful that Gates never invited him to New York to meet Epstein.
“I got him to thank for not doing that,” Buffett said. “But you can’t get away from what happened either.”
Image credits: DOJ
Gates first met Epstein in 2011, three years after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting an underage girl for pr*stitution, and continued to socialize with him until 2014.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation last month after the Epstein files shed light on his friendship with the criminal.
The tech businessman reportedly maintained his innocence, stressing, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.”
He also admitted to having affairs with two Russian women, which Epstein learned of, but insisted that the women were not Epstein’s victims.
The affairs were discussed in the documents released by the Justice Department. One draft email is written as a resignation letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and complains about having to get medicine for Gates “in order to deal with the consequences of s*x with Russian girls.”
Image credits: Getty/Sean Gallup
Gates said it was a “huge mistake to spend time with Epstein”, but insisted that he “never spent any time with victims, the women around him,” as per the WSJ.
“I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” he told his staff.
According to the report, the 70-year-old claimed that images of him with women included in the Epstein files were pictures that Epstein asked him to take with his assistants after their meetings.
Epstein allegedly told him he had links with other billionaires and offered to help raise money for charitable causes Gates was engaged with.
The tech titan also told staffers that his ex-wife, Melinda, “was always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing.”
In 2022, Melinda told CBS that she met Epstein once and described him in the meeting as “abhorrent” and “evil personified.” She said her ex-husband’s friendship with Epstein was one of the reasons they got divorced.
Image credits: DOJ
Gates reportedly told his employees that he continued meeting Epstein until 2014, including taking a flight on a private jet and spending time with him in Germany, France, New York, and Washington, but that he denied visiting his private island in the US Virgin Islands.
The billionaire has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims. In early March, he accepted an invitation from the House Oversight Committee to testify about his links to the financier.
A spokesperson for Gates said in a statement that he “welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee.”
“While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work,” the spokesperson said.
Image credits: Getty/Paul Morigi
After the new Epstein files were released by the US Justice Department in January, Gates canceled a speech he was scheduled to give at the India AI Impact Summit.
Epstein was found lifeless in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for s*x trafficking minors.
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