Law Practice
Aug. 7, 2026
The Gates Foundation's Epstein probe has a scope problem
WilmerHale's review of the Gates Foundation's ties to Jeffrey Epstein illustrates how a narrowly scoped investigation can produce technically accurate findings while leaving the central questions about personal conduct unresolved.
Susan Woolley
Susan Woolley is an attorney in private practice in Pasadena, California and a former AWI board member.
The most important part of the law firm WilmerHale's review of the Gates Foundation's connections to Jeffrey Epstein may be a footnote.
In it, WilmerHale, which was commissioned to investigate the foundation's ties to Epstein, confirms it did not have access to Bill Gates's personal communications and did not review his personal interactions with Epstein. That limitation matters.
The law firm's three-page summary emphasizes what its investigators did exa...
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