A senior Goldman Sachs executive says rumors of a plan to oust general counsel and top adviser to CEO David Solomon, Kathryn Ruemmler, are “completely untrue,” after recent document dumps from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate revealed that she was far closer with him than previously known.
Ruemmler – a former top legal advisor in the Obama administration – told Goldman execs when they hired her that her relationship with Epstein was purely professional and stemmed from her time as a white-collar defense attorney at Latham & Watkins. It would later become public that she not only met with Epstein dozens of times and exchanged friendly emails for years, she was listed as an executor of Epstein’s will as recently as Jan. 18, 2019 – which had been removed before he died in prison on Aug. 10 of that year.
She was hired at Goldman in April 2020 as the bank’s head of regulatory affairs. In November of that year, she was forced to give a heads up to Goldman execs when the Daily Beast published an article revealing she was in the courtroom at Epstein’s 2019 arraignment.
Her name also appears hundreds of times in a 500-page log of emails between Epstein and his lawyers that are still under seal because Epstein’s estate has cited attorney-client privilege, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In November, Congress released dozens of emails she had exchanged with Epstein, including some disparaging President Trump, that sparked a panic among some Goldman executives.
“Trump is so gross,” Ruemmler wrote in a 2017 message with Epstein. He replied “worse in real life and upclose.” -WSJ
Goldman Panics
After an April 2023 report in the Journal detailing the more extensive connections between Ruemmler and Epstein – including how the two had “met dozens of times, that Epstein had visited apartments she was considering buying and that he offered assistance with her travel planning,” including a 2017 plan to take her to ‘pedo island,’ bankers complained to senior management – pointing out that she had a role on the firm’s reputational risk committee. The bankers were essentially told to stand down.
Then, at a dinner organized at CEO David Solomon’s Manhattan apartment in 2024, several women who attended told the Journal that they were appalled that Solomon had Ruemmler help organize the event. Solomon, at a later gathering with high-ranking women, complained that Ruemmler had garnered that kind of reaction – and couldn’t believe that there were senior women at the firm who would bristle at her. Solomon told the WSJ in a statement that no women had ever raised concerns to him about Ruemmler’s involvement in the dinner.
Concern inside Goldman had picked up by spring 2025 as the public’s focus on releasing the Epstein files intensified. The Trump administration initially vowed to release everything and then pulled back. Some high up the ranks at Goldman thought the firm dodged a bullet, people familiar with the matter said. The relief was short-lived when the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Epstein estate in August.
In September, the House committee released the Jan. 18, 2019, version of Epstein’s will that listed Ruemmler as a backup executor.
Her presence on the will had been discovered by some at Goldman as far back as 2023 when an external lawyer informed a Goldman executive, people familiar with the matter said. -WSJ
Ouster in the Works?
According to the new report, Goldman exec John Rogers – who brought Ruemmler into the bank, reportedly told close associates he was formulating a contingency plan for her exit later this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The idea would be to let her save face with as graceful an exit as possible.
When asked about it, Rogers told the outlet “That is completely untrue.” Another person familiar with the matter said that Solomon hasn’t been involved with the plan.
Ruemmler, meanwhile, doubled down on her assertion that she kept things professional, telling the Journal that her association with Epstein was from when “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.”
She also insists that she never represented Epstein or advocated on her behalf, despite Epstein texting an unknown individual with “what Kathy suggests we tell Waco” (later corrected to WaPo, as in the Washington Post).
Epstein also told some of his lawyers in 2019 that Ruemmler, a former federal prosecutor, could be a valuable asset to his legal defense. Some on his team discussed asking her to prepare a character witness letter for a bail hearing – as well as she, among other female lawyers under consideration, could cross-examine some of Epstein’s accusers, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Ruemmler denied this, telling the outlet that she never drafted a letter, nor was she asked to cross-examine victims.
Goldman spox Tony Fratto also told the Journal: “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.”
However, recent disclosures have triggered internal and external reviews, which are expected to continue if more information comes to light, according to the report.
Ruemmler and Epstein’s relationship appears to have really taken off in 2014, the year she left the Obama administration and was a partner at Latham & Watkins. She was put into Epstein’s orbit by Reid Weingarten – a layer at Steptoe who also transferred his client, Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild Group – to Ruemmler. In 2015, Epstein has entered into a $25 million consulting agreement with the Swiss bank that he negotiated with Ariane de Rothschild – one of his associates.
Ruemmler took on Rothschild as a Latham client, representing it in a U.S. regulatory matter. Latham has said Epstein wasn’t one of the firm’s clients. Weingarten went on to become one of the lawyers who represented Epstein in his 2019 criminal case. -WSJ
So it looks like Goldman is publicly standing behind their former Epstein gal-pal top lawyer, for now.
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