A top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, who previously worked for Barack Obama, has come under fire after details about her close links to Jeffrey Epstein came to light. Kathryn Ruemmler, who once served as White House counsel to the former president, reportedly met Epstein dozens of times and appeared in hundreds of emails exchanged between him and his legal team.
The lawyer came under intense scrutiny at the investment bank after reports revealed just how familiar Epstein appeared to be with her personal preferences that included so many things. The convicted pedophile and sex offender even knew Ruemmler's most preferred sushi order — avocado rolls, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Too Close with Epstein
The report also said Epstein visited apartments Ruemmler was thinking about buying and once asked his assistant to see if she could be upgraded to first class on a flight. Ruemmler, now 54, was present in the courtroom when Epstein was arraigned on sex-trafficking charges in 2019.
The disgraced financier later named the former Obama White House counsel as a backup executor of his will — a revelation that raised fresh concerns within Goldman Sachs.
Ruemmler has said she regrets "ever knowing" Epstein and disclosed her professional connections to him when she was hired.
However, emails detailing the apparent closeness of their relationship reportedly caught Goldman executives off guard. According to The Wall Street Journal, a plan has since been put in place to remove her from the firm.
"It was my job to engage with people and companies that had serious legal and public relations problems. Many were under criminal investigation, and many had been convicted of crimes," Ruemmler told the WSJ.
This echoes with what Ruemmler told Goldman Sachs when she was hired in April 2020. At the time, she said that her connection to Epstein stemmed from her earlier work at the law firm Latham & Watkins.
Ruemmler said she never formally represented him, but that he would occasionally reach out for informal legal advice, something she noted he did with many well-known attorneys across the country. She also admitted that Epstein had referred clients her way.
Goldman Sachs has said Ruemmler was "forthcoming" about her prior contact with Epstein.
Responsibly Irresponsible
Unmarried and without children, Ruemmler is currently the bank's chief legal officer — its most senior female executive — and chairs its conduct committee, according to The Washington Post. "The executives at Goldman who needed to know about Kathy's prior contact with Epstein knew what they needed to know," Tony Fratto, a spokesman for the bank, told the outlet.
He said: "Before she accepted the offer to join Goldman Sachs, she proactively disclosed her association with Jeffrey Epstein and other high–profile clients and contacts who might attract media attention, so that the firm would be aware of them."
Fratto also said that Goldman Sachs was "satisfied" after reviewing Ruemmler's background and history. "Nobody involved in Kathy's hiring had concerns about her prior legal work," he said.
Ruemmler and Epstein appear to have known each other since around the time she left the Obama administration in 2014. Epstein had previously pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution and was released from jail the next year.
Emails released by the House Oversight Committee in November shed light on the nature of their interactions. In one message dated September 19, 2014, Epstein wrote to Ruemmler, telling her, "You need to talk to boss."
Ruemmler, who had stepped away from the Obama White House roughly three months earlier according to her LinkedIn profile, responded: "Agreed, but I need to be prepared to say yes before I talk to him."
"Understood," Epstein wrote. "It comes down to high risk / reward / low risk / reward. professional, emotional. and fiinancial [sic]."
She responded that "most girls do not have to worry about this crap."
Epstein shot back: "Girls? Careful i will renew an old habit."
He went on to list several high-profile individuals he was apparently planning to meet that week, including Peter Thiel, Larry Summers, Bill Burns, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Leon Black, and someone he simply referred to as "Woody."
"Also if you think there are interesting people in town, everyone here for climate summit, clinton ,security council," Epstein added.
Ruemmler's links to Epstein has prompted both internal and external reviews, and those investigations are expected to continue if any new details about her relationship with the late convicted pedophile come to light.
