A leading lawyer for Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel during the Obama administration, Kathryn Ruemmler, is resigning from her position after emails exposed her connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
Ruemmler’s resignation, effective June 30, makes her the latest individual to step down amid the discovery of correspondence with Epstein.
“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,” she told news outlets. “My responsibility is to put Goldman Sachs’ interests first.”
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon called Ruemmler an “extraordinary general counsel” and accepted her resignation.
Recently-released emails show Ruemmler calling Epstein “Uncle Jeffrey” and thanking him for his friendship, although her spokesperson insisted that the lawyer only knew Epstein in a professional context when they shared a client.
Similarly, the chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, another law firm, announced earlier this month that he would resign due to his connection to Epstein. “Leading Paul, Weiss for the past 18 years has been the honor of my professional life,” Brad Karp said. “Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.”
Former UK Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson also announced that he has resigned from the Labour Party amid deepening ties to Epstein. In a letter to Labour Party General Secretary Hollie Ridley and obtained by the BBC, Mandelson wrote, “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.”
“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me,” Mandelson added. “While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.”
