Ultimate humiliation for Bill Gates as his foundation’s most famous donor PAUSES gift for first time in decades as probe into Epstein links continues

Bill Gates is facing fresh humiliation as billionaire investor Warren Buffett is reportedly pausing his yearly donation to the Gates Foundation over Jeffrey Epstein. 

Buffett, 95, has given a midyear donation to the nonprofit worth billions of dollars in stock for his corporation Berkshire Hathaway for over two decades, intended to be a ‘lifetime’ pledge to the charity. 

But the financial legend is set to pause the gift this year so he can wait to see the result of an internal review into the foundation’s ties to Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The review will be carried out by the law firm WilmerHale, which was retained by the Gates Foundation to probe the links. It is expected to share its findings in the summer. 

Sources told the Journal that Buffett is delaying his decision over whether to continue his regular donation to the Gates Foundation until that time, and likely until he publishes his annual Thanksgiving letter to shareholders. 

The loss of the donation would be a major hit to the nonprofit’s bottom line, with Buffett having given it around $48 billion from 2006 to 2025.  The Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest philanthropical organizations and aims to use its vast reserves of cash to fight poverty, disease and inequality. 

It comes after Gates was grilled over his links to Epstein by Congress earlier this month, where the Microsoft co-founder was forced to admit to several extramarital affairs in an excruciating hearing. 

Gates has frequently denied any wrongdoing related to his friendship with Epstein, but conceded that the sex trafficker used his knowledge of the affairs to try to blackmail him into continuing their relationship after Gates cut him off in 2014. 

The Daily Mail has contacted Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway and the Gates Foundation for comment. 

According to sources speaking to the Journal, Buffett’s decision to pause his donations came after meeting with the Gates Foundation leadership, including CEO Mark Suzman. 

Buffet’s close relationship to the Gates Foundation began in 2006, when he donated roughly $1.5 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock for the charity’s philanthropic efforts. 

At the time, Buffett said the donation was the start of a lifetime pledge to give away most of his fortune to charity over the rest of his career, with the lion’s share going to the Gates Foundation. 

The gift allowed the Gates Foundation to immediately double its charitable giving, with Buffett joining the foundation as a trustee. 

Buffett and Gates enjoyed a close friendship and business relationship for many years, with Gates also joining Berkshire Hathaway as a board member in 2004. 

Gates left the board in 2020, and Buffett then stepped down as a trustee of the Gates Foundation in 2021, when Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates announced they were divorcing. 

Amid the fallout from the Epstein Files release, it has emerged that the  marriage fell apart following Gates’s extramarital affairs and Melinda’s frustrations over her husband’s ties to Epstein.

Gates has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and says he never witnessed any criminal activity, but conceded that his friendship with the pedophile was a ‘grave error in judgment.’ 

In March, Buffett admitted that the Epstein fallout had strained his friendship with Gates, saying he had not spoken to the Microsoft co-founder since the Epstein Files were released last December. 

Buffett told CNBC that he was looking out for his own reputation, as he didn’t ‘want to be in a position where I know things, to be called as a witness.’ 

‘I think until it gets cleared up, it doesn’t make sense to do a lot of talking,’ he said at the time.