Listen to this article with a free account
Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer, Kathy Ruemmler, announced Thursday that she will leave the prestigious Wall Street firm due to controversy over her email correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, revealed by the Justice Department in recent weeks.
In an interview with The Financial TimesRuemmler said, “I made the decision that the media attention on me, related to my previous work as a defense attorney, was becoming a distraction. »
As a close adviser to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Ruemmler faced intense scrutiny for weeks as the Justice Department abandoned millions of pages of records related to Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker.
“Throughout her tenure, Kathy has been an extraordinary general counsel, and we are grateful for her contributions and insightful counsel on a wide range of legal issues important to the firm,” Solomon said in a statement. “As one of the most accomplished professionals in her field, Kathy was also a mentor and friend to many of our colleagues, and she will be missed. I have accepted her resignation and respect her decision.”
Ruemmler was White House counsel during the Obama administration.
In these emails, Ruemmler exchanged dozens of friendly notes with Epstein for years, including after his conviction.
In 2015, Epstein sought legal advice during an email exchange.
“Well, I love him. It’s like having another older brother!” Ruemmler wrote about Epstein in another email.
“Confirm about the Hermès bag for Kathy!” Epstein’s longtime assistant wrote in another email in 2016, referring to Ruemmler. Other emails show Ruemmler calling Epstein “sweetheart” and thanking “Uncle Jeffrey.”
Ruemmler was also, at one point, listed as an alternate executor of Epstein’s will, although she never served in an executor role. His name was removed before Epstein’s death. She maintained that she was only friends with Epstein through her work as a criminal defense attorney and said she regretted having known him.
On Friday, a spokeswoman for Ruemmler said The Wall Street Journal: “These documents are consistent with what Ms. Ruemmler has repeatedly said: that she knew Epstein when she was a criminal attorney and shared a client with him.”
The Journal also reported last week that after Epstein’s arrest in 2019, one of the first people he called was Ruemmler.
Despite the scrutiny, Goldman Sachs and Solomon backed Ruemmler. Goldman said she disclosed her past relationships with Epstein when she was hired in 2020.
Ruemmler is the latest in a wave of high-profile figures leaving key positions in business and government over the Epstein files.
On February 4, Brad Karpthe president of the law firm Paul Weiss, renounced this position. He, too, had exchanged numerous emails with Epstein over several years.
On Sunday, Morgan McSweeney, chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, resigned. because of the fallout for recommending that Starmer appoint Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to the United States. Mandelson appears several times in the Epstein files.
Mandelson himself was fired as the UK’s envoy to the US in September following the Epstein-related revelations.
Steve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and economics.
Laura Strickler
And
Justin Goldman
contributed
.
