All posts tagged: Bill Gates

Jeffrey Epstein assistant Lesley Groff questioned by House panel

Jeffrey Epstein assistant Lesley Groff questioned by House panel

Published by Sam Flores

Lesley Groff (C), a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images Lesley Groff, the former executive assistant to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, began a transcribed interview on Tuesday morning by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee behind closed doors. Groff’s appearance before the committee comes a day before Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is due to speak to the same panel, which for months has interviewed a range of high-profile people connected to Epstein. “I never saw anything improper,” Groff told the committee, according to a source familiar with the matter who was cited by MS NOW. Groff denied she knew about Epstein’s crimes, the source said. Groff worked for Epstein for nearly 20 years, and her name appears more than 150,000 times in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice. Groff was responsible for arranging Epstein’s meetings with prominent people and scheduling massages for him from …

The top baby names billionaires are choosing for their kids

The top baby names billionaires are choosing for their kids

Published by Daniella Wilson

While some billionaires have chosen headline-grabbing names for their children, the majority seem to favor classic monikers with deep familial or historical significance.  From Jeff Bezos’ family-inspired name for his eldest son to Elon Musk’s unconventional approach to baby names, join HELLO! as we discover the monikers favored by the world’s richest parents.   In the family © Shannon FinneyJeff with eldest his son, Preston Bezos Jeff Bezos has been able to keep the names of his children a secret, which is quite a feat when you’re one of the richest men in the world. The Amazon founder shares his four children with his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, and only their eldest son’s name has been made public.  Preston Bezos appears to be a family name, with the 26-year-old being named after Jeff’s maternal grandfather, Lawrence Preston Gise. The tradition of naming a child after a family member is incredibly common amongst the elite.  Keeping it traditional © InstagramBill Gates’ three children have classic names Other billionaires like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison have …

Gates Foundation reviewing Jeffrey Epstein ties, will slash staff: WSJ

Gates Foundation reviewing Jeffrey Epstein ties, will slash staff: WSJ

Published by Sam Flores

Bill Gates speaks during the Gates Foundation’s first global Goalkeepers event in the Nordics, which is being held in Stockholm, Sweden, Jan. 22, 2026. TT News Agency | Stefan Jerrevang | Via Reuters The Gates Foundation has launched an external review of the philanthropy’s past ties with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. To cut costs, the Gates Foundation will eliminate up to 500 jobs, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030, the Journal reported, citing an email to staff that the newspaper reviewed announcing both the job cuts and Epstein ties review. “This is a challenging time for our organization in many ways, but it also highlights the critical importance of taking the tough actions now,” Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman reportedly said in the memo. The Journal said the foundation, which has a 2026 budget of about $9 billion, plans to cap operating expenses at $1.25 billion. The Gates Foundation was founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Gates. Gates is scheduled to be …

Bill Gates to be interviewed by House Oversight on June 10

Bill Gates to be interviewed by House Oversight on June 10

Published by Sam Flores

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates attends a private dinner for technology and business leaders hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025. Brian Snyder | Reuters Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will sit for an interview about Jeffrey Epstein by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 10, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke anonymously because the appearance has not been announced. Gates is one of several people who have agreed to be interviewed by the oversight panel about their dealings with Epstein, the notorious sex offender who killed himself in a New York jail in August 2019. In February, Gates apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation for his association with Epstein and admitted having affairs with two Russian women, which Epstein learned of, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Gates at that same event said, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” the newspaper reported. His interview will come a day after the committee’s …

Howard Lutnick set for House Oversight interview

Howard Lutnick set for House Oversight interview

Published by Sam Flores

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears at the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing to examine a review of broadband deployment funding at the Department of Commerce, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 10, 2026. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is scheduled to appear May 6 before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for an interview about notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC on Monday. “It’s a voluntary transcribed interview,” the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the appearance hasn’t yet been announced. Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said March 3 that Lutnick had agreed to the interview about the crimes of Epstein and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, but did not announce what day that would happen. The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lutnick’s scheduled appearance. Lutnick, during testimony on Feb. 10 to the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he and his family had lunch with Epstein in …

Warren Buffett says he hasn’t talked to Bill Gates

Warren Buffett says he hasn’t talked to Bill Gates

Published by Sam Flores

Warren Buffett said Tuesday that he has not spoken to Microsoft founder Bill Gates “since the whole thing” with the Jeffrey Epstein files “was unveiled.” “I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Squawk Box.” “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things … to be called as a witness,” said the Berkshire Hathaway chairman, who since 2006 has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Gates. Gates became friends with Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Emails and photos detailing Gates and Epstein’s friendships have been revealed in documents released by the Department of Justice and Congress since late 2025. Gates, in February, apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation for his association with Epstein and admitted having affairs with two Russian women, which Epstein learned of, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. …

Jeffrey Epstein’s Lasting Grip on the Gates Foundation

Jeffrey Epstein’s Lasting Grip on the Gates Foundation

Published by Sam Flores

“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Bill Gates told his staff at a Gates Foundation town hall late last month—an attempt at sunshine, or at least damage control, as the long shadow of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has stretched out over the most powerful private philanthropy in the world. According to The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed a recording of Gates’s remarks, he confirmed for the first time publicly that he had affairs with two Russian women, seeming to address what Epstein described in one of the 3.5 million files as Gates’s “illicit trysts.” Gates generally apologized for his relationship with Epstein, acknowledging that he continued to meet with the disgraced financier through 2014 and flew on his jet, while insisting that he “never stayed overnight” or visited Epstein’s island. But Epstein’s relationship with the Gates Foundation is another question. Other than a statement on the foundation’s website saying, in part, that “we will continue to review materials released in connection with [Epstein’s communication with Gates Foundation staff],” the convicted sex offender’s …

The billionaires made a promise — now some want out

The billionaires made a promise — now some want out

Published by skeptic

In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates launched a disarmingly simple campaign they called the Giving Pledge: a public commitment, open to the world’s wealthiest people, to give away more than half their fortune during their lifetime or upon their death. The moment seemed to call for it. Tech was minting billionaires faster than any industry in history, and the question of how those fortunes would impact society was just beginning to take shape. “We’re talking trillions over time,” Buffett told Charlie Rose that year. The trillions materialized. The giving, less so. The numbers are no longer shocking to anyone paying attention. The top 1% of American households now hold roughly as much wealth as the bottom 90% combined — the highest concentration the Federal Reserve has recorded since it began tracking wealth distribution in 1989. Globally, billionaire wealth has grown 81% since 2020, reaching a whopping $18.3 trillion, while one in four people worldwide don’t regularly have enough to eat. This is the world in which a small group of extraordinarily wealthy people are …

Bill Gates’ TerraPower gets approval to build new nuclear reactor

Bill Gates’ TerraPower gets approval to build new nuclear reactor

Published by skeptic

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave TerraPower the go-ahead this week to build a new nuclear reactor in the shadow of an aging coal power plant in Wyoming. TerraPower’s permit is the first to be issued by the NRC in nearly a decade. The startup — founded by Bill Gates in 2015 and backed by Nvidia — has been designing its Natrium reactor with GE Vernova Hitachi. The final power plant will generate 345 megawatts, which is about two-thirds smaller than modern full-size reactors, but multiple times larger than many small modular reactor designs favored by other startups. Natrium differs from other reactors not just in scale, but also in the details of its design. Where most nuclear reactors built in the last 50 years have been cooled by water, Natrium is cooled by molten sodium, which TerraPower says should be safer. This is the first time a commercial reactor that is not cooled by regular water has been approved by the NRC in more than 40 years. The reactor will operate with an excess …

Are Jeffrey Epstein’s friends just guilty of bad judgment?

Are Jeffrey Epstein’s friends just guilty of bad judgment?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Props to the folks who created a “Walk of Shame” for Jeffrey Epstein’s high-profile friends in Washington’s Farragut Square the other day. I’m afraid, however, that this isn’t the walk these Epstein friends have actually been taking. Rather, theirs has been a Walk of Misjudgment:  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said meeting with Epstein was “a serious error in judgment.” Hyatt Hotels Chairman Thomas Pritzker said he “exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact” with Epstein. Nobel Prize-winning Columbia University professor Richard Axel’s association with Jeffrey Epstein was also “a serious error in judgment.” International Peace Institute President Terje Rød-Larsen said engaging in a personal financial relationship with Epstein was “a grave error of judgment.” Messages from Miroslav Lajčák, former United Nations General Assembly president, discussing women with Epstein showed “poor judgment.” New Age guru Deepak Chopra said messages to Epstein (including “God is a construct. Cute girls are real.”) “reflect poor judgment in tone.” And former Prince Andrew, Duke of York, referred to his “ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.” To his credit, I suppose, after calling …