Warren Buffett revealed Tuesday that he has not spoken with Bill Gates “since the whole thing” with Jeffrey Epstein came to light – after the Microsoft founder was engulfed in a scandal over his links to the late convicted pedophile.
“I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” Buffett told CNBC Tuesday, referring to the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files – millions of pages of documents related to the disgraced financier’s crimes.
“I don’t want to be in a position where I know things…to be called as a witness,” Buffett added.
The 95-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” said Gates was a longtime friend, but added, “I think until it gets clear up, it doesn’t make sense to do a lot of talking…I don’t want to be under oath.”
Following the release of a batch of Epstein files earlier this year, Gates apologized for his friendship with Epstein and admitted that he had two affairs with Russian women while married to his now-ex-wife, Melinda French Gates – though he denied any criminal wrongdoing.
High-profile celebrities have been cutting ties with Gates’ Giving Pledge, a charitable initiative to donate most of one’s fortune to good causes, and the Microsoft billionaire also abruptly backed out of a planned speech at an AI summit earlier this year amid backlash.
“It is astounding to me that anyone could be that successful as a con man,” Buffet said Tuesday of Epstein. “Men are going to like sex…and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and he figured out their weaknesses.”
Buffett – who recently ended his 60-year tenure running Berkshire Hathaway – said he was grateful Gates never invited him to New York to meet Epstein.
“I got him to thank for not doing that,” Buffett said. “But you can’t get away from what happened either.”
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell.
