Bill Gates stood in front of his foundation employees and said he did nothing illicit with Jeffrey Epstein.
Congress didn't believe him, and apparently neither did someone a lot closer to home.
What the Gates Foundation just did to protect itself is something nobody saw coming.
Gates Foundation Launches Epstein Investigation as Layoffs Hit 500 Jobs
The Gates Foundation confirmed this week it is eliminating up to 500 positions – roughly 20 percent of its entire workforce – while simultaneously launching an external review of Bill Gates's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Foundation CEO Mark Suzman sent employees a memo announcing both moves at once.
"This is a challenging time for our organization in many ways," Suzman wrote, "but it also highlights the critical importance of taking the tough actions now."
The review follows a January DOJ document release that included Epstein emails to Gates Foundation staff, photographs of Gates alongside Epstein, and images of Gates with unidentified women whose faces were redacted.
In February, Gates held a town hall where he admitted to affairs with Russian women – affairs Epstein knew about.
Gates told staff: "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit."
The Epstein files say otherwise.
A 2013 email written by Epstein – framed in the voice of Gates's longtime adviser Boris Nikolic – claimed Gates was seeking drugs to treat an STI from "sex with Russian girls" and had asked Epstein to secretly provide antibiotics to slip to Melinda Gates without her knowledge.
Gates's spokesperson told Newsweek the files "merely reflect Epstein's frustration at not having an ongoing relationship with Gates."
Five hundred fired employees. An outside investigator. A congressional subpoena. That's a lot of frustration.
Bill Gates Faces House Oversight Committee Testimony as Buffett Withholds Millions
Gates began seeing Epstein in 2011 – three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.
After that conviction, Gates kept meeting with him – multiple times, including flights on Epstein's private plane.
The DOJ's investigative files mention Gates thousands of times.
When this first came out in 2019, Gates told The Wall Street Journal he had "no business relationship or friendship" with Epstein and had never attended any parties.
By 2021, the story had changed.
Gates told CNN his dinners with Epstein were a "huge mistake" – he'd hoped Epstein could connect him to wealthy donors for global health work.
Now he's heading to Capitol Hill.
Gates sits for a closed-door transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on June 10 – the same committee that subpoenaed Pam Bondi and called in Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
James Comer is running that investigation.
Gates's spokesman says he "welcomes the opportunity" to answer questions.
Warren Buffett has a different posture entirely.
Buffett pumped more than $43 billion into the Gates Foundation between 2006 and 2024 – and told CNBC in March he hasn't spoken to Gates since the latest Epstein documents dropped.
"I don't want to be in a position where I know things," Buffett said, "to be called as a witness."
When Warren Buffett cuts off your calls over a federal investigation, no outside review is going to fix that.
Bill Gates Met With Epstein Three Years After His Sex Crime Conviction
Bill Gates has one argument: he met with Epstein strictly to raise money for global health.
That argument has a three-year problem.
Epstein was a registered sex offender when Gates started meeting with him in 2011.
The $2 million donation Epstein arranged from Gates to MIT's Media Lab didn't go to global health – it went to a university lab that became its own scandal.
The donor-advised fund Epstein pitched to Gates – the one text messages show Gates was interested in – never produced a dollar for anyone.
Three years of meetings with a convicted sex offender. Zero philanthropic results. One congressional investigation.
Gates Foundation employees – the ones who still have jobs – are now waiting on an outside investigator to tell them whether their boss's relationship with Epstein crossed any lines the foundation hasn't already admitted.
Congress isn't waiting. June 10 is coming.
Sources:
- Brittany Miller, "Gates Foundation plans to cut up to 500 jobs while undergoing review of Jeffrey Epstein ties," Fox News, April 22, 2026.
- Lucas Nolan, "Gates Foundation Cuts 20% of Staff, Launches External Review of Bill Gates' Ties to Jeffrey Epstein," Breitbart, April 22, 2026.
- Staff, "Gates Foundation reviewing Jeffrey Epstein ties, will slash 20% of staff," CNBC, April 21, 2026.
- Staff, "Bill Gates interview about Jeffrey Epstein by House Oversight set for June 10," CNBC, April 7, 2026.
- Kaia Hubbard, "Bill Gates To Testify Over Epstein," Newsweek, April 2026.
