Warren Buffett: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing of Wall Street

Buffett, 94, has been a household name in the US since the 90s, receiving the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ nickname over his uncanny ability to pick stocks, and garnering a minor cult of personality over his frugality and philanthropic activities.

Buffett’s first public scandal took place in 1974 with an SEC probe into his acquisition of Wesco Financial Corp. Charged with attempting to illegally interfere with another company’s purchase bid, Buffett was forced to pay out $115K to Wesco shareholders.

Companies Berkshire Hathaway has invested in heavily have been caught engaging an array of illegal activities. In 1990, the Salomon Brothers investment bank was fined $290M for making fraudulent bids on Treasury securities.

In 2016, Wells Fargo was caught creating over 2M unauthorized accounts and credit cards, resulting in a $3B settlement. Buffett, closely linked with bank executives, is alleged to have had insider knowledge of its activities, but done nothing.

Buffett’s $5B investment in Goldman Sachs the middle of the 2008 financial crisis prompted praise for its role in stabilizing markets, but intense criticism from other quarters alleging that he used insider knowledge gleaned from regulators and key Wall Street execs before committing. The investment earned Buffett a cool $3.1B windfall.

Buffett’s heavy investments in IBM and Apple in 2011 and 2016 despite declining stock prices, and despite his traditional aversion to tech stocks, lead to similar speculation of the use of insider knowledge an average investor could face prison time over.

Berkshire Hathaway’s 2009 purchase of BNSF Railway, the second-largest freight rail network in North America, for $34B, was rife with controversy over Buffett’s cozy relationship with regulators, and allegations of lobbying of the Obama administration to delay the Keystone Pipeline deal with Canada.

In the mid-2000s, Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Geico was embroiled in charges of discriminatory insurance underwriting targeting minorities, resulting in multi-million-dollar payouts.

Another subsidiary, Tennessee modular homebuilder Clayton Homes, has been caught engaging in predatory, high-interest lending to low-income families. The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took Clayton's financing division to court earlier this year.

Besides questionable market practices, Buffett’s associations with other powerful individuals like himself has been heavily scrutinized.

In 2010, Buffett and disgraced billionaire Bill Gates set up The Giving Pledge, a charitable campaign disguising billionaire tax write-offs and PR as philanthropy, pumping billions into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s global initiatives.

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations made Buffett a member of its board of trustees in 2013.

In 2023, Berkshire shareholder Peter Flaherty was arrested at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual Omaha meeting after asking questions about Gates’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. “You’ve crossed the boundary,” Buffett said after cutting Flaherty’s microphone.

Numerous Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries have faced allegations of poor treatment of employees, with BNSF, NetJets, Dairy Queen, McLane Company, See’s Candies, Iscar, Precision Castparts, Nebraska Furniture Mart and others facing disputes over low wages, lack of benefits, poor working conditions, union rights, pension plans, understaffing, mistreatment by management, and unfair labor practices.