File photo: White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler listens to President Barack Obama’s speech during FBI Director James Comey’s inauguration ceremony at FBI Headquarters in Washington, Monday, October 28, 2013.
Charles Darapak | AP
top goldman sachs Attorney Kathryn Ruemmler announced Thursday night that she will retire from the investment bank at the end of June. The decision came after a flurry of news articles featuring documents detailing often congenial email conversations between the former White House counsel and notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr. Goldman defended Mr. Ruemmler after Congress for months, and the Justice Department released emails between her and Mr. Epstein and other documents related to his investigation.
Rümmler, who has been a key advisor to David Solomon since he became Goldman’s CEO in 2020, told the Financial Times on Thursday: “I have determined that the media attention on me has become a distraction in connection with my previous work as a defense attorney.”
The FT first reported the 54-year-old’s decision to leave Goldman.
“Since joining Goldman Sachs six years ago, I have been honored to help oversee the firm’s legal, reputational and regulatory issues, strengthen the firm’s strong risk management processes, and ensure that we live our core values of integrity in everything we do,” Ruemmler said in a statement to CNBC.
“My responsibility is to put Goldman Sachs’ interests first,” Lemler said.
“Earlier today, I regret to inform David Solomon of my intention to resign as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Goldman Sachs, effective June 30, 2026.”
“Kathy has served as an exceptional general counsel during my tenure, and I am grateful for her extensive contributions and sound advice on legal matters important to our firm,” Solomon said in a statement.
“Kathy was one of the foremost experts in her field, a mentor and a friend to many, and she will be missed. I accept her resignation and respect her decision,” Solomon said.
Her announcement of leaving Goldman came nearly a week after the Wall Street Journal reported that she was one of three people Epstein called on July 6, 2019, after he was arrested by federal authorities on child sex trafficking charges at a New Jersey airport.
The newspaper’s report cites handwritten notes from law enforcement about comments Epstein made in the FBI’s car after his arrest.
CNBC confirmed that the memos are part of documents released by the Justice Department in late January.
Other news articles detail emails and documents showing how Epstein gave Ruemmler gifts including luxury items such as Hermès bags, Fendi wallets, spa visits, Bergdorf Goodman gift cards and flowers. At one point, she effusively thanked him, calling him “Uncle Jeffrey,” an email revealed.
Ruemmler was a white-collar criminal defense attorney at Latham & Watkins during his 2014 interview with Epstein.
An August 14, 2014 email included in the Justice Department’s Epstein files describes how the Justice Department asked her to represent a client, Edmond de Rothschild Bank.
“Like other Swiss banks, they have problems with the Department of Justice,” Epstein wrote to her.
Ruemmler made the bank a customer of Latham’s.
Ruemmler said he had never represented Epstein, who committed suicide in a New York federal prison weeks after his 2019 arrest.
“These documents are consistent with what Ms. Ruemmler has repeatedly said: She has known Mr. Epstein since his days as a criminal defense attorney and was a fellow client,” Jennifer Connelly, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ruemmler, said in an article in this newspaper last Friday.
“In that context, she was friendly towards him. She had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity on his part,” Ms Connelly said.
Ruemmler previously served as a White House adviser under former President Barack Obama.
She is the latest person to lose high-profile status due to her previous relationship with Epstein.
On Sunday, Morgan Sweeney resigned as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, saying he was responsible for advising Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States. Starmer sacked Mandelson from his post in September after his relationship with Epstein was revealed.
Last week, Brad Karp, chairman of Paul Weiss, a major corporate law firm, resigned from his position over an email dispute with Epstein. Karp remains with the company.
“In response to Mr. Epstein’s email, a spokesperson for Paul Weiss previously stated: Mr. Karp never witnessed or was involved in any wrongdoing. Mr. Karp attended two group dinners in New York City and had a small number of social interactions via email, all of which he regrets.”
Mr. Karp said he was resigning as chairman, citing the confusion in the news story.
In November, after a Congressional committee released emails between Mr. Ruemmler and Mr. Epstein, Tony Fratto, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson, told CNBC that “these emails were personal communications of Kathy Ruemmler long before she joined Goldman Sachs.”
“Kathy is an extraordinary general counsel, and we benefit from her judgment every day,” Flatt said at the time.
Ruemmler previously told Barron’s that he regrets knowing Epstein.
A new set of emails released by the Justice Department in late January included one sent by Ruemmler to Epstein in March 2019, four months before his arrest.
In the email, she offered advice on how to respond to criticism that she received preferential treatment and lesser punishment because of her wealth and political connections when she avoided federal prosecution in 2008 by pleading guilty in Florida state court to charges of pimping an underage girl.
At the time Epstein sought Rümmler’s advice, he was the subject of a series of articles in the Miami Herald criticizing federal prosecutors’ decision not to prosecute in 2008. Epstein ended up serving just 13 months in a state prison in Florida, most of which he was allowed to go to work during the day.
The email thread’s subject line, “From wapo,” suggests that Mr. Epstein was contacting Mr. Rümmler for the Washington Post’s investigation into him.
“This criticism is incorrect and reflects a fundamental (misunderstanding) of both the underlying facts of Mr. Epstein’s case and how it was (prosecuted) by both local and federal authorities,” Ruemmler wrote in an email.
“Mr. Epstein was subject to a lengthy, aggressive (and) highly unusual federal investigation for what was essentially a localized sexual solicitation (crime), far from (receiving) a lover’s transaction,” Lemler wrote. “He accepted responsibility, (served) time in prison, and paid a large settlement to the victims (involved).”
In a parenthetical section, Ruemmler also suggested saying something like, “However, given his wealth, it is hard to imagine that Mr. Epstein would have been subjected to the kind of aggressive treatment he received from (federal) prosecutors, nor would he have been subjected to the (despicable) and malicious treatment he continues to receive in the media more than a decade after the case was resolved.”
