Warren Buffett Delays Summer Gift to Gates Foundation Pending Epstein Review

Warren Buffett is withholding his annual multibillion-dollar donation to the Gates Foundation for the first time in two decades. The 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman is delaying his customary summer gift of Berkshire shares until later this year, potentially until Thanksgiving, while awaiting the findings of an outside review into the foundation's past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein.

The Gates Foundation hired law firm WilmerHale to conduct the review, with findings expected later this summer.

Buffett and his associates have been in contact with foundation leadership, including CEO Mark Suzman, regarding the foundation’s connections to Epstein and the status of the review. Buffett began donating Berkshire stock to the Gates Foundation in 2006 and has given around $48 billion total.

The foundation has distributed roughly $110 billion since its creation to support global health and related initiatives.

The foundation has stated it never made financial payments to Epstein and never pursued a formal collaboration with him. During a closed-door House Oversight Committee interview, Gates discussed an extramarital affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova and testified that Epstein later sought reimbursement for expenses he claimed to have paid on her behalf, a request Gates said he rejected.

Gates testified that the last time he spoke with Buffett was in January.

Buffett revealed in a March CNBC interview that he had not spoken with Gates since the Epstein files became public and said he intended to wait until late June before deciding whether to make his annual charitable contribution. Gates skipped Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Omaha for the first time in years.

Last year Gates announced plans to spend more than $200 billion over the next two decades before winding down the foundation entirely by the end of 2045.