A top Goldman Sachs executive is denying a report that he quietly explored a contingency plan to oust the company’s general counsel after it was revealed that she had a close, yearslong friendship with the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
John Rogers, a key Goldman powerbroker known to have extensive ties to Washington, pushed back on a Wall Street Journal report that he was looking for a way to facilitate a “graceful” exit later this year for Kathryn Ruemmler, the firm’s top lawyer who has the ear of CEO David Solomon.
“This is completely untrue,” Rogers, who recruited Ruemmler, 54, to 200 West St. nearly seven years ago, told The Journal in a statement.
Ruemmler, the former Obama official who joined Goldman Sachs in April 2020, was first viewed as a reputational liability by the bank’s top executives as early as 2023, in the wake of reports detailing her chummy relationship with Epstein, according to The Journal.
Her ties to the perv financier came into clearer focus late last year after lawmakers investigating thim released a trove of emails and correspondence showing regular contact between the two.
That reportedly triggered internal panic at Goldman.
The messages, made public by Congress in November, revealed a personal and at times casual tone that went beyond what some executives believed had been disclosed during her hiring process.
The emails showed Ruemmler treating Epstein as a personal confidant on housing and daily life.
In a January 2018 message, she updated him on her living arrangements, writing, “Finally got the apartment so can ‘move in’ tomorrow.” Epstein replied simply, “Great.”
Other exchanges show Ruemmler confiding in Epstein about major career decisions at the highest levels of government.
As she weighed whether to pursue the role of US attorney general in 2014, Ruemmler wrote, “I think I should do it,” and discussed her financial situation, noting, “I signed the lease in my name for a year… It is $11,000 a month.”
Epstein advised her to “talk to boss,” a reference to then-President Barack Obama.
The correspondence also extended to travel preferences and personal comfort. In one email, Ruemmler asked Epstein, “when I go to Dubai on Emirates, do I need to go first or is business class good enough given that I only care about sleeping?” Epstein replied that “biz is ok,” while offering access to a private jet.
Ruemmler disclosed a professional association with Epstein during her Goldman hiring but did not share key details, one senior executive told The Journal, including the volume of meetings, personal interactions and her onetime status as backup executor of Epstein’s will.
Her name was removed from Epstein’s will before his death in August 2019.
She never served in any executor role.
Solomon has continued to stand by Ruemmler, telling The Journal in a statement: “Kathy is an excellent general counsel and we benefit from her advice every day.”
“Kathy has always had the support of the entire leadership team and the Board and is widely respected and admired at the firm.”
Ruemmler told The Journal that she shared professional ties with Epstein by dint of her work as a criminal defense attorney.
She told the paper that “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.”
According to Ruemmler, she never represented Epstein or advocated on his behalf. She told The Journal that Epstein referred clients to her and that he “also informally reached out to me for advice from time to time just as he did with numerous other prominent lawyers throughout the country.”
“As I have said, I regret ever knowing him, and I have enormous sympathy for the victims of Epstein’s crimes,” Ruemmler told the Journal.
A Goldman spokesperson told The Journal that Ruemmler was transparent with the bank about her relationship with Epstein at the time she came onboard.
“The executives at Goldman who needed to know about Kathy’s prior contact with Epstein knew what they needed to know, and they have never doubted that Kathy has been forthcoming,” Tony Fratto, a spokesman for Goldman, was quoted as saying.
“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. The firm did its own diligence and was satisfied.
“Nobody involved in Kathy’s hiring had concerns about her prior legal work.”
