A Florida whistleblower is asking a federal court to force the IRS to investigate alleged vaccine-related for-profit activities conducted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Attorney William S. Scott, executive director of the World Peace Through Education Foundation, made the allegations in a claim filed with the IRS in May 2024. In September 2024, the IRS denied Scott’s claim. On Jan. 8, he filed an appeal against the IRS in federal court.
“Under the pretense of improving World Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Trust has been engaged in the promotion, manufacture and sale of Covid-19 vaccines that were not sufficiently tested for safety or for effectiveness for their intended use,” Scott said in his appeal.
Scott is asking that the IRS tax the Gates Foundation’s COVID-19 vaccine-related activities retroactively and in the future “as ordinary income from for-profit transactions.”
“The claim that its efforts are charity are bogus and it has acted in bad faith,” Scott wrote, referring to the Gates Foundation.
Scott’s appeal includes a request for a court order to a lower government official to properly fulfill his/her official duties. Scott alleges the IRS failed to fulfill its obligation to investigate the Gates Foundation.
In a Dec. 20, 2024, motion to dismiss Scott’s original appeal, the IRS claimed that the federal court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case and that the U.S. “has not waived its sovereign immunity” — a legal doctrine under which the state cannot be sued without its consent.
In his Jan. 6 response, Scott alleged the IRS did not engage in a good faith effort to adhere to its own procedures — an assertion he repeated in his amended appeal. In its Jan. 13 response, the IRS repeated its claims of sovereign immunity.
Writing for broken truth.tv, journalist John Davidson said the IRS responded to Scott’s court order in five days, “demonstrating the greatest act of government speed and efficiency in modern history.”
By comparison, Davidson cited an IRS statement that it currently takes the agency approximately seven months to process new applications for tax-exempt status.
Davidson also noted that Matthew L. Paeffgen, one of the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys representing the IRS, was previously employed by McDermott Will & Emery, a wealth management group that advised Smart Immune, a Gates Foundation partner.
Investigation against Gates Foundation ‘long overdue’
Journalist Naomi Wolf, Ph.D., CEO of Daily Clout, called Scott’s efforts to force an investigation of the Gates Foundation “long overdue.”
“The conflict of interest apparent in a situation in which Gates receives tax deductions for money spent to fund entities designed to lobby or pressure governments to purchase vaccines in which Gates himself is a major investor, is obvious,” Wolf told The Defender.
In 2019, the Gates Foundation invested $55 million in German vaccine manufacturer BioNTech, which later partnered with Pfizer to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Gates Foundation made 15 times its initial investment when it sold its BioNTech shares at the height of their value in 2021. In 2019, Gates said his “best investment,” aimed at increasing access to vaccines, had a 20-to-1 return.
The Gates Foundation continues to invest in other mRNA developers.
Journalist Paul D. Thacker, a former U.S. Senate investigator, told The Defender “it’s highly unlikely” the IRS will act against the Gates Foundation.
“The nonprofit section of the IRS has always been loathe to take action against corrupt nonprofits,” Thacker said. “The tax code needs to be rewritten.”
Journalist Tim Hinchliffe, editor of The Sociable, has extensively reported on the activities of the Gates Foundation. He also believes the IRS is unlikely to take action against the foundation.
“If the allegations against Gates are proven to be true, I wouldn’t expect much to come from the case — perhaps a slap on the wrist, like a fine, that would be laughable to the Gates Foundation,” Hinchliffe said.
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Gates Foundation ‘a significant financier’ of pro-vaccine organizations
According to Davidson, there would be several implications for the Gates Foundation if it loses its tax-exempt status — including tax liability which, based on 2023 figures, would reach $1.44 billion.
The foundation also would lose income from previously tax-deductible donations, leading to an “immediate” financial impact and loss of public trust.
Davidson described the Gates Foundation as “a significant financier in the pro-vaccine landscape,” citing the organization’s founding of and support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and funding it has given to other vaccine makers, the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and PATH — formerly known as the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health.
Such funding can “skew” the priorities of scientific researchers, Davidson wrote.
He noted that there is at least one case that can serve as a precedent for Scott’s case against the IRS and the Gates Foundation. According to NPR, Blue Shield of California lost its state tax-exempt status in 2015 “for operating like a for-profit company.”
The federal court is expected to rule on Scott’s appeal in the coming days. Scott did not respond to a request from The Defender for comment.
