The Gates Foundation met with Epstein about 30 times despite staff concerns, an external review says

AP News ^ | Updated 12:21 PM CDT, July 21, 2026 | JAMES POLLARD

[E. Pluribus Unum]

NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Gates and the staff of his charitable foundation met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than two dozen times even as employees expressed concerns about the reputational risk of working with him, an external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation found.

The conversations appeared to focus on a public health fund that never materialized and a grant to the International Peace Institute, which was run by an associate of Epstein.

The roughly 30 meetings, which took place from 2011 to 2014, included several visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and one meeting on the Gates Foundation campus, according to the review by law firm WilmerHale. The review found no evidence the foundation paid Epstein or did anything illegal. The foundation released a three-page summary of WilmerHale’s report Tuesday and did not say if it would release the full version.

Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused in connection with Epstein’s crimes and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. He told a congressional committee last month that he made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting with the disgraced financier.

Gates’ name appears in the trove of documents released by the Justice Department as part of its Epstein probe. The Epstein files include the names of powerful men across tech, finance, politics and business, all of whom have denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
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[ryderann]

How else are you going to blackmail someone you set up in a compromising position?

[NEMDF]

I hadn’t realized this before, but saw a few days ago, that Warren Buffett is no longer contributing to the Gates Foundation, seemingly related to Gates’ ties to Epstein.

[FlingWingFlyer]

You AP ahos really need to get a life. This Epstein crap is so old. It isn’t going anywhere MORONS!!!

[chud]

Melinda Gates said that one of the big reasons that she divorced Bill was because he kept meeting with Epstein even after he had been arrested, and everyone knew what he had done.

[minnesota_bound]

Best friend Warren Buffett redirected $6 billion of his money elsewhere instead of the Gates foundation.

News I came across: Warren Buffett redirected the 12 million Class B Berkshire shares—valued at roughly $6 billion—away from the Gates Foundation for the first time in 20 years.

The Reason Behind the Split: The decision follows public disclosures and a congressional hearing regarding Bill Gates’ past association with Jeffrey Epstein. Buffett previously noted that he was pausing gifts pending an external legal review into the foundation’s ties to the deceased sex offender, and stated he has not spoken to Gates since the files were unveiled