Bill Gates’ Foundation Had No Ties To Epstein’s Crimes, Its External Probe Finds
The Gates Foundation did not have any knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes or participate in them, an external independent investigation funded by the foundation found, after Bill Gates’ relationship with the late financier intensified scrutiny on the foundation and its work.
The Gates Foundation announced Tuesday an independent investigation into the foundation’s ties to Epstein it funded by law firm WilmerHale did not uncover any links between the nonprofit and Epstein’s alleged crimes.
Foundation chief Bill Gates had a professional relationship with Epstein that involved discussing a potential donor-advised fund that could benefit the Gates Foundation, though Gates has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking and any wrongdoing in connection with the financier.
WilmerHale concluded it found “no evidence” of any “participation in or knowledge of Epstein’s ongoing sex trafficking operations or criminal activities” by the Gates Foundation, or that “the foundation was contemporaneously aware of Epstein’s use of the foundation’s name to help advance his conduct.”
Investigators noted Gates did engage with Epstein despite knowing of the financier’s previous 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution, and found Gates Foundation employees “raised on multiple occasions the risks of associating with Epstein because of his prior conviction.”
The investigation found foundation employees had met with Epstein approximately 30 times between 2011 and 2014, but those meetings were all focused on philanthropy, and investigators did not find any evidence Epstein was ever paid by the foundation.
New revelations about Gates’ ties to Epstein in the government’s Epstein files earlier this year led the Gates Foundation to announce the investigation in April, as it expressed regret for interactions between Epstein and foundation employees.
WilmerHale found the employees at the Gates Foundation were first introduced to Epstein in 2011. His dealings with the nonprofit were largely focused on the donor-advised fund, or DAF, that Gates was working on developing with Epstein, which would “pool contributions from high-net-worth individuals” and direct them toward global public health. Foundation employees discussed the DAF at several meetings, but plans for the fund ultimately fell apart in 2014, after Gates and foundation employees met with potential donors. Those donors “did not appear informed about the DAF,” WilmerHale noted, “and it became clear to Mr. Gates and foundation staff that Epstein had misrepresented the potential donors’ knowledge of and willingness to commit to the DAF.” Epstein also introduced Gates to the president of the nonprofit International Peace Institute, or IPI, in 2013, and the Gates Foundation later provided grants to the nonprofit. The investigation found the Gates Foundation “conducted diligence” on IPI before giving it money. After reporting in 2020 uncovered deeper ties between Epstein and the nonprofit’s president than were previously known, investigators note the Gates Foundation continued to fund the IPI because it was satisfied with the steps the nonprofit took in response, such as the president resigning and the nonprofit conducting an independent probe into its Epstein ties.
The summary of WilmerHale’s findings also mentioned that Epstein had communications with two Gates Foundation employees, who investigators say forwarded Epstein sensitive information about Gates and the foundation “without notifying Mr. Gates or foundation staff, which violated foundation policy.” Communications in the Epstein files suggest those employees are likely Melanie Walker and Boris Nikolic, who were science advisers to Gates. Walker frequently communicated with Epstein about Gates even after the billionaire cut ties with Epstein in 2014, documents suggest, while Epstein helped negotiate Nikolic’s departure from the Gates Foundation. The Epstein files also include emails Epstein sent to himself that appear to be drafts of messages Nikolic could send to Gates, which allege Gates used drugs, participated in “illicit trysts” and contracted a sexually transmitted disease, also alleging he then “surreptitiously” gave antibiotics for the disease to then-wife Melinda French Gates. (Gates’ office has decried these allegations as “absolutely absurd and completely false.”)
The Gates Foundation announced a number of steps Tuesday that it plans to take to avoid working with people in the future who could be similarly compromising to the foundation’s work. The foundation will create a “centralized vetting process” for people it works with, strengthen processes around conflicts of interest and handling sensitive foundation records, and create new guardrails around employees who work for both the Gates Foundation and other Gates-owned entities, like his family office. It will also create a process for escalating potential risks regarding projects introduced by Gates and other senior leadership, after Gates had the foundation work with Epstein despite staff concerns about the 2008 conviction.
The Gates Foundation only released a short executive summary of the investigation’s findings on Tuesday, so the full findings of the investigation are still under wraps.
The results of the Gates Foundation investigation come shortly after billionaire Warren Buffett declined to make an annual donation to Gates’ nonprofit for the first time in decades, following reports that the donation was being delayed as Buffett scrutinized Gates and the foundation’s ties to Epstein. Buffett told CNBC he found Gates’ ties to Epstein “distasteful” but said he “found nothing” when examining Gates’ relationship with Epstein “that was beyond what I could picture myself doing,” though he still ultimately did not give money to Gates’ nonprofit. Buffett instead directed his annual giving to foundations run by his children, saying he wanted to give his kids stewardship over his fortune.
Forbes estimates Gates’ net worth at $105.6 billion as of Tuesday afternoon.
Gates has become one of the most high-profile people to be ensnared in the drama over Epstein and the Epstein files, though there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by him or that he had knowledge of the financier’s alleged crimes. He first met Epstein in 2011 and met with him multiple times before allegedly cutting ties with him in late 2014, when the DAF plans fell apart. Gates has maintained their relationship was strictly professional and based on philanthropy. Emails in the Epstein files suggest the two had a friendly relationship and Gates traveled on Epstein’s private plane multiple times, though he has said he declined an invitation to visit the financier’s private island and intentionally avoided Epstein’s overtures to build more of a friendship. Gates has apologized for his dealings with Epstein, telling foundation employees that associating with the financier was a “huge mistake” and he regrets working with him despite knowing about his 2008 conviction. The billionaire testified to the House Oversight Committee on Epstein in June and said he believed his “narrow” philanthropic relationship with Epstein was acceptable despite the financier’s past crimes, saying, “I justified that getting billions of dollars for Global Health was worth spending time with him.”
Buffett Calls Gates’ Epstein Ties ‘Distasteful’—But Found Nothing ‘Beyond What I Could Picture Myself Doing’ (Forbes)