A trespassing charge against a conservative activist investor who was arrested at Berkshire Hathaway’s recent shareholder meeting after bringing up dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been dropped.
The Daily Wire has learned that a prosecutor in Omaha, Nebraska, informed Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), last week that he reviewed the case and declined prosecution.
While the prosecutor could not immediately be reached for comment, Flaherty said in a phone call on Tuesday that it was “the weakest case imaginable” and is “glad” the charge is no more.
At the annual meeting in Omaha earlier this month, Flaherty had been recognized to speak in support of a proposal to require the roles of CEO and chairman be held by two different people. Both of those titles are held by Warren Buffett, and Flaherty argued the Omaha-based company would be less identified with Buffett’s political activities if the chair was independent.
After getting into how Buffett donated billions of dollars to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ foundation, as well as efforts supporting Critical Race Theory and gender ideology, Flaherty said a Berkshire official approached to tell him to stay on topic. Buffett gave him the go-ahead to continue, and that’s when Flaherty mentioned Gates’ ties to Epstein.
“We know how much Bill Gates cares about children,” Flaherty said. “He met and traveled with Jeffrey Epstein many times after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes.” Video posted to social media shows the audience erupted in boos and some whistling when Flaherty brought up Epstein.
Flaherty continued to speak about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation when he says two security officials removed him from the venue and Omaha police arrested him. Arrest documents show Flaherty had been charged with refusing to comply with a request to leave. He was released on a $250 bond and was expected back in court on May 22 until the case was dropped.
The Daily Wire left a voicemail with Berkshire Hathaway seeking comment, but never got a reply.
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Flaherty said on Tuesday he was subjected to a “false arrest” that sets a “terrible precedent” when it comes to shareholder rights. Flaherty, who believes he “touched the third rail of billionaire relations: Jeffrey Epstein,” said the issue is even more prevalent now following a report by The Wall Street Journal over the weekend that said Epstein learned Gates allegedly had an affair with a young Russian woman and later appeared to threaten to expose the tryst if the billionaire refused to do business with him.
Gates has acknowledged only having engagements with Epstein for what he says were philanthropic reasons. “Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates,” a spokesperson for Gates told the publication. Melinda French Gates cited her now-ex-husband’s meetings with Epstein, whom she called “abhorrent,” while telling CBS last year about the various factors that led to her divorce from Bill Gates.
In 2008, after Epstein was accused of sexually abusing female minors in Florida, he reached a deal with federal prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to state-level prostitution charges, registered as a sex offender, and served roughly 13 months in jail and in a work-release program. Epstein died at the age of 66 in his New York City jail cell in August 2019 after being arrested on sex trafficking charges involving young girls and pleading not guilty.
Although the proposal sponsored by NLPC was defeated, Flaherty says it garnered enough support to be raised again next year. Pressed on how he might now respond to Berkshire Hathaway following the arrest, Flaherty said his team is “evaluating legal options.”