Warren Buffett says he hasn't spoken to Bill Gates since the release of files tied to Jeffrey Epstein, and he intends to keep it that way. The billionaire investor told CNBC he is deliberately avoiding his longtime friend to stay clear of any legal exposure, the Daily Mail reported.
The remarks represent Buffett's first public comments about Gates since the so-called Epstein files came to light. They also mark a visible fracture in one of the most celebrated friendships in American business, a relationship that began in the early 1990s and channeled tens of billions of dollars into global philanthropy.
Buffett was blunt about his reasoning. He said he does not want to learn anything that could drag him into a courtroom.
"I haven't talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled. I don't want to be in a position where I know things... to be called as a witness."
He went further, telling CNBC that "until things are resolved, it's not wise to say much." And then the sharpest line: "I'd rather not be under oath."
The Gates-Buffett relationship was, for decades, the most visible alliance in American philanthropy. Mutual acquaintances introduced them in the early 1990s. By 2006, Buffett had become a trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Washington Examiner reported that he served in that role until 2021 and donated more than $43 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the foundation during that period.
Photo captions from the Daily Mail's coverage show the two men together in 2006, in July 2008, flipping Dairy Queen Blizzard treats in 2010, and again in 2015. For years, the pairing of Buffett's folksy Omaha persona with Gates' tech-world ambitions was treated as a model for billionaire giving.
Now Buffett is treating that friendship like a legal liability.
The break traces back to files released in January that revived questions about Gates' past association with Epstein. Those files allegedly contained claims that Gates slept with Russian women, contracted a sexually transmitted disease, and asked for antibiotics to give to his then-wife Melinda.
A spokesperson for Gates pushed back hard, telling the Daily Mail that the claims were "absolutely absurd and completely false." The spokesperson added that "the only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame."
Gates has previously acknowledged that meeting with Epstein was a serious error in judgment. He has apologized to foundation staff for the Epstein ties and said the encounters were tied to philanthropy. But the files reignited scrutiny over why Gates continued meeting Epstein in the years after Epstein's 2008 conviction, including visits to Epstein's homes.
The allegations also prompted a response from Melinda Gates, who has addressed the Epstein-related allegations publicly as the documents drew renewed attention.
While Buffett distanced himself from Gates, he did not hold back on Epstein himself. He called the convicted sex offender the greatest fraud he had ever encountered.
"It is astounding to me that anyone could be that successful as a con man. That guy must have been the con man of all time. He had a way of conning everybody."
Buffett offered a theory for how Epstein operated, saying the financier identified and exploited the weaknesses of powerful men.
"Men are going to like sex... and some of them are going to like not paying taxes, and he figured out their weaknesses."
That assessment fits a pattern Americans have watched unfold for years: a network of wealthy, powerful people who maintained ties to Epstein even after his 2008 conviction, and who now scramble to explain those relationships. The DOJ's handling of Epstein file redactions has only deepened public suspicion that the full truth remains hidden.
Buffett said Gates never introduced him to Epstein, noting that Gates might have invited him to New York to meet Epstein but did not. "I got him to thank for not doing that," Buffett said.
Then came the line that captured the tension in Buffett's position, the acknowledgment that friendship does not erase what the record shows.
"But you can't get away from what happened either."
What stands out about Buffett's comments is not the emotion but the calculation. He did not denounce Gates. He did not call him guilty of anything. He simply said he does not want to know things that would put him under oath.
The New York Post noted that Buffett framed the decision as practical: it made no sense to talk to Gates until matters became clearer. The implication is that the Epstein matter is not over, that legal and congressional proceedings could still draw in people connected to Gates.
That implication is not hypothetical. The Washington Examiner reported that Gates is preparing to testify before the House Oversight Committee. Other prominent figures have already faced sworn questioning about their Epstein connections, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was grilled under oath over a visit to Epstein's island.
Buffett said he did not ask "probing questions" during his years as a Gates Foundation trustee. Whether that was discretion or willful avoidance is a question only Buffett can answer. But his decision to cut off contact now, after decades of partnership and more than $43 billion in donations, tells its own story about the gravity of what the Epstein files have set in motion.
The Epstein saga has become a slow-moving reckoning for America's elite class. One by one, prominent figures have been forced to explain, apologize, resign, or lawyer up. Larry Summers left Harvard. Gates apologized. Lutnick testified. And now the most famous investor in American history says he won't even pick up the phone for a man he once called a close friend.
Gates' spokesperson insists the documents only prove Epstein's frustration at not having a real relationship with Gates. Maybe so. But Buffett's behavior suggests the documents carry enough weight that a 90-something-year-old billionaire with nothing left to prove has decided the safest course is silence.
The open questions remain. What specific matters did Buffett mean when he said "until things are resolved"? What did Gates discuss with Epstein during those post-conviction meetings? And why did so many powerful people keep returning to the orbit of a convicted sex offender?
Buffett called Epstein the greatest con man he had ever seen. Fair enough. But the real question was never about Epstein's skill. It was about why so many people who should have known better kept falling for it, and what, exactly, they were getting in return.
