Top Goldman Sachs lawyer Ruemmler resigns after Epstein disclosures

Feb 12 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathy Ruemmler has resigned, CEO David Solomon said on Thursday, after documents released by the U.S. Justice Department last month showed Ruemmler accepted gifts from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and advised him on how to address media inquiries regarding his crimes.

“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,” Solomon said in a statement. “I accepted her resignation, and I respect her decision.”

Ruemmler told the Financial Times that she would exit the Wall Street firm on June 30, saying: “I made the determination that the media attention on me, relating to my prior work as a defence attorney, was becoming a distraction.”

Ruemmler did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Ruemmler was part of the leadership at Goldman Sachs, among the top executive officers of the Wall Street firm. Ruemmler, who was also White House counsel during the Obama administration, referred to Epstein in emails as “Uncle Jeffrey” and received gifts from him including wine and a handbag, the documents show.

Epstein also called Ruemmler’s cell phone when he was arrested on July 6, 2019, among other calls he made that night, according to two documents that cited notes from law enforcement officials.

A separate note by the Federal Bureau of Investigation cited Epstein as saying on the same day: “Is this about sex trafficking. Is this about underage.”

The author of the FBI document, who was not named, said Epstein also made utterances including: “Oh this is bad, this is pretty bad.”

Ruemmler had a large number of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after the disgraced financier’s 2008 guilty plea for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, the documents showed.

These communications included advising Epstein on how to respond to a media inquiry in 2019 concerning the alleged special legal treatment he received because of his connections, the emails show.

“I was a defense attorney when I dealt with Jeffrey Epstein,” Ruemmler said in a statement to Reuters on February 3.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Mexico City, Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Jacqueline Wong and Thomas Derpinghaus)