By Kanjyik Ghosh
July 21 (Reuters) - An external review conducted for the Gates Foundation has found it engaged with Jeffrey Epstein, but discovered no evidence of payments or participation in criminal activities linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender, the philanthropic group said on Tuesday.
The foundation has been under scrutiny due to Chair Bill Gates’ association with Epstein. The U.S. Justice Department’s release of some of its Epstein files earlier this year included photos of Gates posing with the financier and with women whose faces were redacted. They also showed communication between Epstein and the Gates Foundation’s staff.
Gates, 70, has repeatedly expressed regret for having anything to do with Epstein and has denied spending time with victims of Epstein’s sexual abuse, saying he never witnessed criminal conduct by Epstein. He has not been accused of any crimes.
The foundation’s review is the latest fallout from a scandal that has lingered on since Epstein’s 2019 death, touching universities, banks, and political and royal figures on both sides of the Atlantic. U.S. President Donald Trump, who knew Epstein for years before a falling-out he has dated to the mid-2000s, faced mounting pressure, including from his own base, before signing legislation last year ordering the Justice Department to release its Epstein files.
“The review found no evidence that Epstein was paid by the foundation. It also found no evidence of participation in, or knowledge of, Epstein’s ongoing sex trafficking operations or criminal activities,” the foundation said in a statement.
MONTHS-LONG REVIEW
The foundation opened an external review this year into its engagement with Epstein. It said on Tuesday that the review was commissioned in March and was conducted by law firm WilmerHale.
The review confirmed that the foundation’s primary engagement with Epstein from 2011 to 2014 involved two matters — a proposed donor-advised fund and a nonprofit called the International Peace Institute, according to the statement.
While the foundation did not pursue the first idea, it provided funding to IPI for polio eradication support following internal diligence and review, the statement added.
WilmerHale conducted more than 50 interviews with current and former employees and reviewed extensive written materials for the review, the foundation said.
The foundation’s governing board approved a series of recommendations made in the review - among them the creation of a centralized vetting process for brokers, donor advisors and others who help facilitate funding partnerships tied to Gates, the board or top executives, with added scrutiny for meetings proposed at private residences.
TESTIMONY TO CONGRESS
Gates and his then-wife Melinda French Gates started the Gates Foundation in 2000. It is one of the world’s biggest funders of global health initiatives.
Last month, Gates told Congress he was introduced to Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in jail, and four years after Epstein reached a controversial non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.
Gates said subsequent meetings with Epstein focused on possible philanthropy but proved fruitless, and the relationship ended by December 2014.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, one month after being arrested on sex trafficking charges. New York City’s medical examiner called the death a suicide - a decision that spawned widespread conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered to protect powerful people with whom he associated.
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; Editing by Rod Nickel and Nick Zieminski)
