Review says Gates Foundation held about 30 Epstein meetings

Bill Gates and employees of the Gates Foundation met with Jeffrey Epstein roughly 30 times from 2011 to 2014, according to a WilmerHale review commissioned by the foundation. The finding matters because Gates has said his dealings with Epstein were a grave mistake, while the review shows the foundation kept engaging with him even after staff raised reputation concerns.

The Gates Foundation released a three-page summary of the law firm’s review Tuesday, according to the foundation. The summary said the meetings centered on two matters: a proposed global public health investment fund that was never created, and a grant to the International Peace Institute, then led by a person connected to Epstein.

WilmerHale found that the meetings included several visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and one meeting at the Gates Foundation’s campus, according to the released summary. The review said it found no evidence that the foundation paid Epstein or broke the law.

Gates chairs the Gates Foundation. He has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes, and he has repeatedly denied knowing about Epstein’s abuse of girls. Gates told a congressional committee last month that meeting Epstein was a “grave error in judgment,” according to the Associated Press.

The Justice Department has released records from its Epstein investigation that include Gates’ name, according to the Associated Press. Those files also name prominent figures in technology, finance, politics and business, and the people named have denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes, the AP reported.

Epstein was indicted by federal prosecutors in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, according to the AP. He died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial.

According to WilmerHale’s review, Gates’ contact with Epstein began after an adviser who worked with both the foundation and Gates’ private office introduced them. Epstein had pleaded guilty three years earlier to soliciting prostitution from a minor, according to the AP.

The review said Epstein suggested that Gates create a charitable investment fund that would collect donations from wealthy people for global health work. Foundation employees then discussed legal issues and donor tax benefits with Epstein at Gates’ request, according to WilmerHale.

Those talks led to a breakfast in December 2014 at Epstein’s Manhattan home with Gates, foundation employees and possible donors, the review said. Gates later determined that Epstein had “misrepresented” how willing those donors were to contribute, according to WilmerHale, and the foundation ended work on the idea.

WilmerHale also said Epstein introduced Gates in 2012 to Terje Rød-Larsen, then president of the International Peace Institute. The Gates Foundation reached a grant agreement with the institute the next year tied to polio eradication, according to the review. Rød-Larsen resigned in 2020 over his Epstein ties, the AP reported.

The review said Gates knew about Epstein’s sex offense during the period when the foundation and Gates were dealing with him. It also said foundation staff who worked on the proposed public health fund warned about the risk to the organization’s reputation.

Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said in a statement that the board has approved steps meant to improve vetting and risk management. “The work we do depends on integrity and earning and maintaining the trust of partners,” Suzman said.

WilmerHale said its five-month review did not include Gates’ personal communications and did not cover Epstein’s contacts with Gates outside the foundation context. The foundation did not say whether it would release the full WilmerHale report.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.