NEW YORK — The Gates Foundation confirmed on April 22, 2026 that it has commissioned an external review of its past engagement with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The review was initiated in March by Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, with support from chair Bill Gates and independent Governing Board members, to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein and current policies for vetting and developing philanthropic partnerships.

The foundation acknowledged that a small number of employees met with Epstein based on his claims that he could mobilize philanthropic resources for global health and development. The foundation never created a fund with Epstein and made no financial payments to him. "The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way," the foundation said.

The foundation expects its board and management to receive an update on the review this summer. The third-party investigators conducting the review have not been publicly named.

Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing regarding his connection with Epstein, denies knowledge of Epstein's crimes, and says they met only to discuss philanthropy. Gates spoke candidly about his relationship to Epstein at a February town hall meeting of the foundation. He is scheduled to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 10 as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into Epstein.

Justice Department files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting their meeting dates, and photos of Gates at events attended by both men. Epstein visited the foundation's headquarters in Seattle at least once. The Wall Street Journal first reported news of a staff memo detailing the external review.

"This is a challenging time for our organization in many ways, but it also highlights the critical importance of taking the tough actions now," Suzman wrote in a staff memo.

Warren Buffett, who donates a portion of his annual Berkshire Hathaway shares to the foundation and resigned as a trustee in 2021, addressed the matter on CNBC's Squawk Box. "There was a lot I didn't know," Buffett said. "I will wait and see what unfolds in the Justice Department's documents and congressional hearings on their contents," he said. "Gates has plenty of his own money," Buffett added. "In any event, I'll just wait and see. And there's three and a half million, or whatever it is pages – I mean, it is astounding," he said of the Epstein files.

Bill Gates founded the foundation in 2000. It provided $8.0 billion in charitable support in 2024 and works with partners across the United States and in more than 130 countries, with an endowment totaling $86 billion. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and died by suicide in August 2019 while in a New York City federal jail, weeks after his arrest on federal child sex trafficking charges.