• Warren Buffett resigned Wednesday as trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which says it will announce plans in July to answer questions raised about its leadership structure as it deals with the divorce of its two founders. The announcement from Buffett, 90, comes weeks after Bill and Melinda Gates revealed that they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage but would continue to jointly run one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. Buffett was one of three members of the foundation's board -- the other two are Bill and Melinda Gates. "For years I have been a trustee -- an inactive trustee at that -- of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMG). I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire's," Buffett said in a statement Wednesday. Buffett said the foundation still has his full support. Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, also said that he is halfway to reaching his goal of giving away the entirety of his shares in the conglomerate and that he's donating another $4.1 billion in shares to five foundations, though the lion's share went to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation Wednesday received more than $3.2 billion, bringing Buffett's total giving to the foundation to nearly $33 billion.
• Jim Bakker and his southwestern Missouri church will pay restitution of $156,000 to settle a lawsuit that accuses the TV pastor of falsely claiming a health supplement could cure the coronavirus. Missouri court records show a settlement agreement was filed Tuesday that calls for refunds to people who paid money or gave contributions to obtain a product known as Silver Solution. The settlement also prohibits Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. from advertising or selling Silver Solution "to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure any disease or illness." Bakker, in the agreement, does not admit wrongdoing. Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement that Bakker has already made restitution to many consumers and must pay back another $90,000 to others. The Jim Bakker Show is filmed in southwestern Missouri. In March 2020, U.S. regulators warned Bakker's company and six others to stop selling items by making false claims. A lawsuit similar to Missouri's, filed by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, is pending.
