A top lawyer at Goldman Sachs who worked for Barack Obama is facing mounting pressure after her close links to Jeffrey Epstein emerged.
Kathryn Ruemmler, previously a White House counsel to the former president, met with Epstein dozens of times and was cited in hundreds of emails between him and his legal team.
She faced close scrutiny at the megabank after it was revealed that the convicted sex offender knew her sushi order of avocado rolls, the Wall Street Journal reported.
He also visited apartments she was considering buying and asked his assistant to check whether Ruemmler could get a first-class upgrade, per the outlet.
Ruemmler, 54, was in the courtroom when Epstein was arraigned on sex trafficking charges in 2019.
The disgraced financier also listed the former Obama counsel as a backup executor of his will, which raised further questions inside Goldman Sachs.
She said that she regretted ‘ever knowing’ Epstein. During Ruemmler’s hiring, she disclosed her professional ties to Epstein. But the depth of their apparent friendship revealed by emails is said to have taken Goldman Sachs bosses by surprise. The Journal reported that a plan has been devised to remove Ruemmler from the company.
‘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.
Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, now a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, is facing pressure over her links to Jeffrey Epstein
Epstein knew Ruemmler’s sushi order, visited apartments she was thinking of purchasing and was aware of her flight details
This echoed what Ruemmler told Goldman Sachs when she was hired, as she explained that her links to Epstein were due to her previous job at the Latham & Watkins law firm.
Ruemmler said she had not represented Epstein, but that he ‘informally reached out to me for advice from time to time just as he did with numerous other prominent lawyers throughout the country.’
Epstein also referred clients to her, she added. Ruemmler is unmarried and has no children, according to the Washington Post.
Goldman Sachs said she had been ‘forthcoming’ about her ‘prior contact’ with the dead pedophile.
Ruemmler is its chief legal officer, making her the bank’s top female executive. She is also chairman of the firm’s conduct committee.
‘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 added that Goldman Sachs was ‘satisfied’ after looking into Ruemmler’s background.
‘Nobody involved in Kathy’s hiring had concerns about her prior legal work,’ he said.
Ruemmler served in the Obama administration as White House Counsel from 2011 to 2014
Ruemmler and Epstein have seemingly known each other since around the time she left the Obama administration in 2014.
Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008. He was released from jail a year later.
Emails released by the House Oversight Committee in November showed the nature of the pedophile’s relationship with Ruemmler.
In a correspondence dated September 19, 2014, he wrote: ‘You need to talk to boss.’
Ruemmler, who had left the Obama White House about three months earlier, according to her LinkedIn page, replied: ‘Agreed, but I need to be prepared to say yes before I talk to him.’
‘Understood,’ Epstein said. ‘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 then listed a group of people he was apparently set to meet with ‘this week,’ including Peter Thiel, Larry Summers, Bill Burns, former British prime minister Gordon Brown, Leon Black and ‘Woody.’
‘Also if you think there are interesting people in town, everyone here for climate summit, clinton ,security council,’ Epstein added.
Epstein’s emails with the former Obama counsel go back to at least 2014. In one exchange, he wrote: ‘Girls? Careful i will renew an old habit’
Messages from February 2017 also showed Ruemmler disparaging US President Donald Trump, calling him ‘so gross.’
‘Worse in real life and upclose,’ he said.
Ruemmler’s name is also featured hundreds of times in a log of emails between Epstein and his lawyers, which runs to more than 500 pages.
That batch of emails remains under seal after Epstein’s estate cited attorney–client privilege. Ruemmler claimed she wasn’t involved in the decision.
‘I had no knowledge whatsoever of any new or ongoing unlawful activity on his part,’ she told the WSJ.
The disclosure of Ruemmler’s links to Epstein could threaten her position at Goldman Sachs.
John Rogers – one of the bank’s top executives – is said to be coming up with a contingency plan that would lead to Ruemmler’s exit, per the Wall Street Journal.
‘That is completely untrue,’ he told the outlet.
From left: Ruemmler, then-FBI chief Robert Mueller, then-vice president Joe Biden and Obama
Another Goldman Sachs executive, chief executive officer David Solomon, called Ruemmler an ‘excellent general counsel.’
He added: ‘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’s relationship with Epstein has led to internal and external reviews – which would continue if more information about her relationship to the dead pedophile comes out.
‘As I have said, I regret ever knowing him, and I have enormous sympathy for the victims of Epstein’s crimes,’ Ruemmler said.
In 2019, Epstein floated Ruemmler’s name as a boon to his legal defense.
He had been accused of trafficking and sexually abusing dozens of underage girls as young as 14, according to his indictment.
Some of Epstein’s lawyers reportedly talked about the possibility of her cross–examining some of his accusers.
Another option was that Ruemmler could draft a letter attesting to Epstein’s character.
Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein, maintained after he pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008, has resulted in internal and external reviews at Goldman Sachs
Ruemmler said she never drafted a letter and was never asked to question his victims.
‘I did not advocate on his behalf to any third party,’ she said. ‘Not to a court, not to the press, not to the government.’
Epstein was found hanging in his New York prison cell on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
His co–conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is currently the only person serving time in prison related to the dead millionaire’s sex crimes.
The Daily Mail has contacted Ruemmler and Goldman Sachs for further comment.
