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The chief executive of the Gates Foundation said he feels “humiliated” by its association with Jeffrey Epstein, as he seeks to manage the fallout from sex offender negotiations with the philanthropy and its chairman Bill Gates.
The communications between foundation staff and Epstein over the failed fundraising scheme were “extremely disturbing and disappointing” and “should not have happened”, Mark Suzman told staff.
His comments came in response to staff concerns about potential losses to the $86 billion foundation due to Gates’ involvement with Epstein for several years after the financier was convicted in 2008 of having sex with a minor.
“I feel somewhat dismayed by any association of Epstein with the work that we do,” Susman told staff at a town-hall meeting on Feb. 5.
Bill Gates, the foundation’s chief financier and Microsoft co-founder, had publicly admitted that he was an “idiot” and that he “regrets associating with Epstein,” Susman told staff.
Gates has not been accused of involvement in Epstein’s sexual abuse. Draft emails on Epstein’s account claimed that Gates tried to hide a sexually transmitted disease from his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, after having sex with “Russian girls”.
A spokesperson for Bill Gates has said that these claims are “absolutely absurd and completely false”, which only demonstrate Epstein’s “frustration that he had no existing relationship with Gates”.
The topic of Epstein and the fallout from the scandal came up several times during the Gates Foundation town hall, according to a transcript reviewed by the FT.
A staff member asked Suzman what he would say to people who are “struggling to reconcile their commitment” to the foundation’s goals and are concerned about “what they’re hearing and reading about the chair.”
Another expressed concern about the apparent tension between “the names on our wall and what we are teaching”, and “our mission and our belief that all life has equal value”.
The foundation said the town hall was a quarterly event where Suzman discussed a variety of topics, including external pressures related to last year’s “devastating aid cuts.”
According to emails released by the US Justice Department last month, Gates Foundation employees and Epstein discussed plans to donate to the organization.
The contact “occurred based on Epstein’s claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development”, the Foundation said in a statement This week.
It says the foundation made no payments to Epstein, had no collaboration with him and no funds were ever created. It said it would continue to review material released in relation to the case.
The Gates Foundation was launched in 2000 and has become a leading funder of global health efforts, including a gender equality division focused on women and girls in Africa and South Asia.
Its main financing is This includes more than $60 billion from Bill Gates and Melinda, as well as more than $43 billion from investor Warren Buffett. Suzman, a former FT journalist and UN official, took over as chief executive in 2020.
The foundation has taken on an even more prominent role as the US and other rich countries have made deep cuts in foreign aid since last year. It is set to become the leading funder of the World Health Organization after the US withdrew from the UN body and dozens of other organizations last month.
Foundation overhauls its governance in 2022 and expands board of trustees Following Bill and Melinda’s decision to divorce and Warren Buffett’s resignation as trustee. Bill Gates announced last year that the foundation would close its doors end of 2045.
A spokesperson for Bill Gates, who is scheduled to hold a town hall with foundation staff in the coming weeks, has been contacted for comment.
