Epstein files: Goldman Sachs top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler to step down after email fallout

Top Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler said Thursday night that she will leave the investment bank at the end of June, a decision that came after a flurry of news articles highlighting documents detailing the former White House counsel’s often chummy email conversations with the notorious sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Goldman, for months, has defended Ruemmler after Congress and then the Department of Justice released emails between her and Epstein, as well as other documents related to investigations of him.

Ruemmler, who has been a key advisor to Goldman CEO David Solomon since joining the bank in 2020, told the Financial Times on Thursday, “I made the determination that the media attention on me, relating to my prior work as a defence attorney, was becoming a distraction.”

The FT first reported the 54-year-old’s decision to leave Goldman, where she has been general counsel and chief legal officer, at the beginning of the summer.

Solomon, in an interview on Friday with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” called Ruemmler “a tremendous human being.”

“She called me yesterday afternoon and told me that … the press coverage of the work that she had done previously and of this whole situation had just gotten to a level of noise and distraction that she thought was distracting the firm,” Solomon said. “It was putting her in a position where it was hard for her to execute on her job and her responsibilities, and she just thought it was time to step away.”

Ruemmler, in a statement Thursday night to CNBC, said, “Since I joined Goldman Sachs six years ago, it has been my privilege to help oversee the firm’s legal, reputational, and regulatory matters; to enhance our strong risk management processes; and to ensure that we live by our core value of integrity in everything we do.”

“My responsibility is to put Goldman Sachs’ interests first,” Ruemmler said.

“Earlier today, I regretfully informed David Solomon of my intention to step down as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Goldman Sachs as of June 30, 2026.”

Solomon, in a statement Thusday, said, “Throughout her tenure, Kathy has been an extraordinary general counsel, and we are grateful for her contributions and sound advice on a wide range of consequential legal matters for the firm.”

“As one of the most accomplished professionals in her field, Kathy has also been a mentor and friend to many of our people, and she will be missed. I accepted her resignation, and I respect her decision,” Solomon said.

Her announcement that she will leave Goldman comes nearly a week after The Wall Street Journal reported that Ruemmler was one of three people whom Epstein called on July 6, 2019, after being arrested by federal authorities on child sex trafficking charges at an airport in New Jersey.

The Journal’s report cites a handwritten set of notes by law enforcement about comments Epstein made inside an FBI vehicle after his arrest.

Those notes are among documents released in late January by the Department of Justice, CNBC has confirmed.

Other news articles detailed emails and documents showing how Epstein had made gifts to Ruemmler that included a Hermes bag, and other luxury items, such as a Fendi purse, spa visits, Bergdorf Goodman gift cards and flowers. On one occasion, she effusively thanked him, calling him “Uncle Jeffrey,” one email showed.

Ruemmler was a white-collar criminal defense lawyer at the firm Latham & Watkins during the years she was speaking with Epstein, whom she met in 2014.

An Aug. 14, 2014, email contained in the DOJ’s Epstein files shows how he asked her to represent his client, Bank Edmond de Rothschild.

“They have a justice department problem … like every other swiss bank,” Epstein wrote her.

Ruemmler took the bank as a client for Latham.

Ruemmler has said that she never represented Epstein, who killed himself in a New York federal jail weeks after his 2019 arrest.

Ruemmler’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Connelly, told the Journal for its story last Friday, “These documents are consistent with what Ms. Ruemmler has repeatedly said: She knew Epstein when she was a criminal defense attorney and shared a client with him.”

“She was friendly with him in that context. She had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part,” Connelly said.

Ruemmler previously served as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama.

She is the latest person to lose a high-profile position because of her prior association with Epstein.

On Sunday, Morgan Sweeney resigned as chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States. Starmer fired Mandelson from that post in September over disclosures about his connection to Epstein.

Last week, Brad Karp, chairman of the major corporate law firm Paul Weiss, resigned from that post after fallout over emails between him and Epstein. Karp is staying at the firm.

In response to the Epstein emails, a Paul Weiss spokesman previously said, “Mr. Karp never witnessed or participated in any misconduct. Mr. Karp attended two group dinners in New York City and had a small number of social interactions by email, all of which he regrets.”

Karp said he was leaving the chairman’s post because of the distraction of the news stories.

In November, after a congressional committee released emails between Ruemmler and Epstein, Goldman Sachs spokesman Tony Fratto told CNBC, “These emails were private correspondence well before Kathy Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs.”

“Kathy is an exceptional general counsel and we benefit from her judgment every day,” Fratto said at the time.

Ruemmler has previously told the Journal that she regrets ever knowing Epstein.

Among the new tranche of emails that the DOJ released in late January is one that Ruemmler sent Epstein in March 2019, four months before his arrest.

In that email, she offered advice on how to respond to criticism that he had previously received special treatment and a light punishment in 2008 because of his wealth and political connections when he avoided federal prosecution in exchange for pleading guilty in Florida state court to a charge of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. 

At the time Epstein sought Ruemmler’s advice, he had been the subject of a series of articles in the Miami Herald that were critical of the decision by federal prosecutors not to file charges against him in 2008. Epstein ended up serving just 13 months in state prison in Florida, but was allowed out to go to his office during the day for much of that time.

The subject line of the email thread, “From wapo,” suggests that Epstein was reaching out to Ruemmler because of an inquiry by The Washington Post about him.

Ruemmler wrote in the email: “Something like: … ‘The criticism is wrong and reflects a fundamental [misunderstanding] of both the facts underlying Mr. Epstein’s case and how it was [prosecuted] by both local and federal authorities.”

“Far from [receiving] a sweetheart deal, Mr. Epstein was subjected to a lengthy, aggressive, [and] highly unusual federal investigation for what were, in essence, local [offenses] of sexual solicitation,” Ruemmler wrote. “He accepted responsibility, served [time and] prison, and paid significant monetary settlements to the victims [involved].”

Ruemmler, in a bracketed section, also suggested saying something like, “But for his wealth, it is hard to imagine that Mr. Epstein … would have received the aggressive treatment that he did from [federal] prosecutors, and he certainly would never have been subjected to the [salacious] and malicious treatment by the media that he continues to receive more than 10 years after the case was resolved.”