Warren Buffett Says He Has Not Spoken to Bill Gates Since Epstein Files Were Released

The Break

Warren Buffett, the 95-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, revealed on Tuesday that he has not spoken to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates since the release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In an interview with CNBC's Becky Quick on "Squawk Box," Buffett stated: "I haven't talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled." He added: "I don't want to be in a position where I know things … to be called as a witness."

When asked directly whether he was still good friends with Gates, Buffett spoke fondly of their personal history but did not give a clear affirmative answer. He said: "I think until it gets cleared up, it doesn't make sense to do a lot of talking." He added: "I don't want to be under oath."

These were Buffett's first public comments about Gates since the Epstein files began being released, according to CNBC.

A $43 Billion Relationship

The Buffett-Gates relationship has been one of the most consequential alliances in modern philanthropy. Since 2006, Buffett has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, according to CNBC. Together with the Gateses, Buffett co-founded The Giving Pledge, an initiative aimed at encouraging the world's wealthiest individuals to commit the majority of their fortunes to charity.

A March 15, 2026, New York Times report on The Giving Pledge noted that "the rate of signers has plummeted in recent years," citing in part the fallout from Gates's ties to Epstein. The report noted Buffett had become distant from the Gates Foundation. A separate TechCrunch analysis from the same date described the pledge as having "no enforcement, no consequences, no one to answer to but yourself."

The significance of Buffett's public distancing cannot be overstated. His multi-decade, tens-of-billions-of-dollars relationship with the Gates Foundation has been the single largest philanthropic partnership between an individual donor and a foundation in history.

Buffett on Epstein

Buffett spoke at length about Epstein during the CNBC interview. He described Epstein as an unprecedented manipulator, saying: "It is astounding to me that anyone could be that successful as a con man."

He continued: "Men are going to like sex … and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and he figured out their weaknesses." He called Epstein "the con man of all time" and said "he had a way of conning everybody."

Buffett noted that Gates could have introduced him to Epstein but never did. He said: "I got him to thank for not doing that." He added: "But you can't get away from what happened either."

The Epstein Files: What Has Emerged

Gates became friends with Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, according to CNBC's reporting. Emails and photos detailing the relationship between Gates and Epstein have been released by the Department of Justice and Congress since late 2025.

In January 2026, unsealed Epstein files revealed two 2013 draft emails by Epstein alleging Gates had extramarital affairs, according to a Wikipedia summary sourcing the documents themselves. In a December 2014 email, Epstein wrote directly to Gates inviting him and his family to visit his island, according to the Times of India, citing the released documents.

In February 2026, Gates apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation for his association with Epstein. According to The Wall Street Journal, as reported by CNBC and CBS News, Gates admitted to having affairs with two Russian women — which Epstein learned of. Gates told staff at the same event: "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit," per the Journal's reporting. CBS News, citing audio of the apology obtained by the Journal, reported that Gates told staff he and Epstein shared a private jet and spent time together in Germany, France, New York, and Washington.

Gates also told Foundation staff it was "a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein and bring Gates Foundation executives into meetings with the sex offender," according to AOL's reporting of the Journal story.

Congressional Investigation

On March 3, 2026, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked Gates and six other individuals to testify about their dealings with Epstein, according to CNBC, CBS News, Politico, and Fox News. The others included Goldman Sachs's top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler, billionaires Leon Black and Ted Waitt, former Clinton assistant Doug Band, and two former Epstein assistants — Lesley Groff and Sarah Kellen.

Gates, Ruemmler, and Black all quickly agreed to voluntary, transcribed interviews, according to CNBC. The House Oversight Committee's letter to Gates, available on the committee's website, requested his testimony at an in-person transcribed interview on May 19, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. ET in Washington, D.C.

A spokesperson for Gates said in a statement, as reported by CNBC, that Gates "welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee." The spokesperson added: "While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein's illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee's questions to support their important work."

What Comes Next

Gates's scheduled House Oversight testimony on May 19 will be the most consequential moment yet in the ongoing fallout. The committee's investigation has expanded significantly since the Epstein files began their public release, and Gates will be the highest-profile figure to testify.

For Buffett, his decision to publicly distance himself from a decades-long friendship — and from the foundation to which he has directed the largest individual charitable donations in history — signals how deeply the Epstein revelations have disrupted the upper echelons of American philanthropy and business. His statement that he does not want to be "under oath" suggests an awareness that the legal and congressional investigations could yet reach further into Gates's orbit.

The Giving Pledge, once celebrated as a moral commitment by the world's wealthiest, now faces questions about its future as its co-founders are publicly estranged and new signatories have slowed to a fraction of earlier years.