Buffett stops Gates charity donations over Epstein link

Warren Buffett has stopped donating money to the Gates Foundation, ending a two-decade philanthropic partnership following revelations about interactions between the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist ‌Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buffett said on Tuesday he is donating about $US6 billion ($A8.6 billion) of Berkshire Hathaway stock, comprising 12 million Class B shares, in his annual mid-year donation to four family foundations overseen by his ‌daughter Susie and sons Howard and Peter.

The announcement by the 95-year-old Berkshire chairman did not mention the Gates Foundation, which has received more than $US47 billion ($A67 billion) of the conglomerate’s stock since Buffett in 2006 made what he called an irrevocable pledge to donate shares throughout his lifetime.

Buffett’s donation was more than $US4.5 billion ($A6.4 billion) last year.

“Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034,” Buffett said in a statement.

The Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Berkshire did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. Buffett has said that after his death, his children would oversee a ‌charitable trust containing about 99.5 per cent ‌of his remaining wealth.

Bill Gates has seen his reputation tarnished following the US Department of Justice’s release of files about Epstein in February.

These included photos of Gates ​posing with the financier, and with women whose faces were redacted. Emails also showed communications between Epstein and the foundation’s staff.

Last month, Gates told Congress he was introduced to Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution, and four years after Epstein reached a controversial non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.

Gates said several subsequent meetings with Epstein focused on possible philanthropy but proved fruitless, and the relationship ended by December 2014. He said he later discovered that Epstein learned of his marital infidelity, and Epstein tried using that knowledge to unsuccessfully blackmail him into re-engaging.

Gates, 70, has not been accused of crimes. He has repeatedly expressed regret for having anything ⁠to do with Epstein, has denied spending time with victims of Epstein’s sexual abuse, and has said he never witnessed ‌criminal conduct by Epstein.

Epstein died in a Manhattan ⁠jail cell in August 2019, one month after being arrested on sex trafficking charges. New York City’s medical examiner called the death a suicide.