Billionaire investor Warren Buffett stopped donating to Bill Gates’ charitable foundation weeks after the Microsoft co-founder detailed his ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buffett “irrevocably” committed in 2006 to donating shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, each year to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as it was then known “for my entire life.”

But on Thursday, the Gates Foundation was left off the list of companies that will receive billions of dollars in stock.

Instead, the shares will be divided among four foundations in which members of the Buffett family will participate. The 95-year-old said he will dispose of his remaining shares over the next eight years.

“Of course, mortality is unpredictable,” Buffett said. “But my remaining shares will be donated to all four foundations in one form or another before December 31, 2034.”

Gates’ association with Epstein was revealed when the US Department of Justice released files in January.

Buffett did not mention Gates or Epstein by name in his statement about his donations.

But in March, he told CNBC, external that he had not spoken to Gates “since everything was revealed.”

He added: “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things… to be called as a witness.”

The Gates Foundation has been contacted for comment.

In June, Gates appeared before the U.S. House Oversight Committee to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In a transcript of his testimony, Gates said he was introduced to Epstein in 2011 on the premise that he could raise billions of dollars for global health, a key goal of the foundation.

“I remember being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal problems, but not fully understanding the scope of the crimes he committed,” Gates said.

Three years earlier, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and procuring prostitution from a person under 18 years of age.

Gates told the committee: “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place. Based on what I know now, I understand that even if he had delivered the donors he promised, it would not have justified associating with him.”

Buffett was an enthusiastic supporter of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, stating in 2006 that he “enormously” admired what it was accomplishing and pledged to make annual donations.

In 2010, Bill, Melinda Gates and Buffett started the Giving Pledge, which aimed to get extraordinarily wealthy people to give away most of their wealth during their lifetime or in their will.

Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Melinda French Gates resigned in 2024 from the foundation she co-founded and said she would donate $1 billion to help women’s rights in the United States.