Gates’ emails omitted from Epstein review that cleared foundation

An external review that cleared the Gates Foundation of any wrongdoing in its ties to Jeffrey Epstein did not include Bill Gates’ personal emails. Lawyers at WilmerHale, commissioned by the foundation, had no access to the billionaire’s personal communications or the activities of Gates Venture, where two employees with alleged deep ties to Epstein worked. That detail appeared in a footnote of the report’s three-page summary, released Tuesday.

The review found Gates and foundation employees met with Epstein about 30 times from 2011 to 2014. Several visits were to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse; one gathering took place on the Gates Foundation campus. The meetings focused on a possible public health fund, which was never created, and a grant to the International Peace Institute, then run by an Epstein associate, according to the review.

WilmerHale said it found “no evidence” the Gates Foundation paid Epstein, did anything illegal, or was aware of Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes. The firm interviewed more than 50 current and former foundation employees, including Gates himself.

Gates has not been accused of any crimes. He has called his ties to Epstein a “grave error in judgment.” In sworn testimony to Congress last month, Gates admitted to affairs with two Russian women. Epstein learned of the infidelity and tried to use it to blackmail him into reconnecting after they cut ties, Gates said.

He said the relationship ended by December 2014.

In a statement Tuesday, Gates said: “Completing this review is an important step in providing the clarity that partners, employees and grantees deserve.”

The foundation commissioned the review after Gates and some staffers were named in the Department of Justice’s Epstein files – a trove of hundreds of thousands of files showing the sex criminal’s communications with powerful pols, celebrities and financiers.

The foundation has not said whether the full report will be published. Its board has vowed to strengthen governance and internal processes.

Meanwhile, the foundation has already taken a hit. Warren Buffett ended his gifts to the organization last week, excluding it from $6 billion in donations this year. The 95-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway had been the foundation’s largest donor for years, giving more than $47 billion in Berkshire stock since 2006. He told CNBC he found Gates’ ties to Epstein “distasteful,” but added that everybody makes mistakes and he recently met with the Microsoft founder.