{"id":146950,"date":"2026-07-16T07:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/buffett-calls-bill-gates-relationship-with-epstein-distasteful\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T07:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:02:48","slug":"buffett-calls-bill-gates-relationship-with-epstein-distasteful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/buffett-calls-bill-gates-relationship-with-epstein-distasteful\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffett calls Bill Gates relationship with Epstein \u2018distasteful\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has described Bill Gates\u2019 relationship with late sex offender Jeffery Epstein as \u201cdistasteful\u201d, but said he himself had made mistakes in life by being friends with people \u201cwho weren\u2019t great\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Buffett\u2019s firm Berkshire Hathaway stopped giving donations to the Microsoft co-founder\u2019s charity for the first time in 20 years and instead handed his remaining stock to foundations linked to his family.<\/p>\n

Buffett told CNBC he and Gates have had a \u201cwonderful friendship\u201d but confirmed his pivot over donations followed Gates\u2019 testimony to US Congress about Epstein.<\/p>\n

Gates called Buffett \u201ca dear friend\u201d, adding: \u201cMy gratitude to Warren is immeasurable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gates appeared before the US House Oversight Committee in June to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n

In a transcript of his testimony, Gates said that he had been introduced to Epstein in 2011 as someone who could help raise billions of dollars for global health, which is a key focus of the Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2008, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.<\/p>\n

Gates told the committee: \u201cI should never have met with Epstein in the first place. Based on what I know now, I understand that even if he had delivered the donors he promised, it would not have justified associating with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffett said on Wednesday he had read Gates\u2019 testimony.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWhile it\u2019s distasteful, while he made mistakes, I\u2019ve made mistakes in hiring all kinds of people, choosing friends and finding out later that one way or another they weren\u2019t what I thought they were.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I found nothing in there that was beyond what I could picture myself doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffett said the decision to stop donations to the foundation did not come as a surprise to Gates. The two met around three weeks ago for three hours.<\/p>\n

The 95-year-old said: \u201cAt some point I had read what Congress had come up with, I\u2019d read everything and all I can say is I don\u2019t know whether I\u2019ve done dumber things but I\u2019ve done many dumb things in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffett added that he and Gates have had an \u201cenormous number of good times together\u201d since they met in 1991. \u201cIt has been a wonderful friendship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gates said: \u201cI cherish the time we spend together. I hope we have much more of it ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

SInce 2006, when Buffett pledged to make annual donations to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as it was then known, \u201cthroughout my lifetime\u201d, he has given $47bn (\u00a334.7bn) to the charity.<\/p>\n

But even without his backing, the foundation still holds \u201cvery substantial resources\u201d, said Buffett.<\/p>\n

In 2025 alone, the Gates Foundation gave away $8.5bn in charitable support.<\/p>\n

While Buffett originally pledged a lifetime commitment two decades ago, he explained that his thinking has evolved over time.<\/p>\n

When he first made the pledge, Buffett noted that he did not feel his three children were ready to manage such vast sums, but he now believes they are fully capable and deeply aligned with his goals.<\/p>\n

The post Buffett calls Bill Gates relationship with Epstein \u2018distasteful\u2019<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has described Bill Gates\u2019 relationship with late sex offender Jeffery Epstein as \u201cdistasteful\u201d, but said he himself had made mistakes in life by being friends with people \u201cwho weren\u2019t great\u201d. On Tuesday, Buffett\u2019s firm Berkshire Hathaway stopped giving donations to the Microsoft co-founder\u2019s charity for the first time in 20 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}