Epstein’s emails about Goldman’s Kathryn Ruemmler spark internal drama at bank: report
Senior executives at Goldman Sachs are reportedly uncomfortable with the bank’s decision to stand by its top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler – despite the release of recently released emails that shed more light on her close friendship with late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ruemmler, the chief legal officer and general counsel at the Manhattan-based investment bank, received the support of CEO David Solomon despite a series of emails showing how happy he was with Epstein after he pleaded guilty to soliciting and buying a minor into prostitution.
But senior partners at the firm privately dismissed the bank’s statements of support for Ruemmler in recent months, including Solomon, Bloomberg News reported.
Solomon told CNBC in December that Ruemmler is “an outstanding attorney and the organization relies on his guidance every day.”
Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto said earlier this week that “Kathy has been forthcoming” with the bank and “disclosed her relationship with Epstein prior to joining the firm and has answered every question the firm has asked.”
Still, the Ruemmler-Epstein emails reportedly sparked Goldman’s annual retreat, where some 400 partners from around the world are expected to gather later this week at a luxury hotel in Miami Beach.
Goldman declined to comment.
But a Goldman source disputed the renegade’s interpretation, telling The Post: “The mood of the meeting was very positive.”
“Our partners are using this time to focus on how to maintain momentum from last year’s record results,” the source added.
Goldman executives were reportedly unhappy to learn of the expensive gifts Epstein bought Ruemmler, who had been friends with the convict years before he joined the bank.
DOJ files show that Epstein showered Ruemmler, then a partner at the law firm Latham & Watkins, with expensive gifts including a $9,400 Hermès bag, a $4,200 Fendi fur-trimmed coat, and a $1,700 Fendi leather bag.
When Epstein’s office asked if he wanted a new Apple Watch band, Ruemmler requested a blue leather strap from Hermès, according to the records.
Other emails show Epstein’s staff offering to buy him Broadway tickets, and Ruemmler once reminded the ailing financier that he likes wine with dinner, signing off with “xoxo” and a smiley face emoji.
Goldman executives who spoke to Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity said they would be fired for accepting gifts worth a fraction of what Ruemmler gave Epstein before he was hired by the company.
A Goldman source told The Post that Ruemmler was not an employee of the bank when this happened and that “compliance policies at law firms are different than compliance policies at regulated banks.”
“Kathy followed appropriate policies everywhere she worked,” the source added.
Newly released emails show Ruemmler used a romantic tone with Epstein, sometimes calling him “Uncle Jeffrey” and likening him to “another older brother,” according to emails shared with the Justice Department.
He also sent Epstein an angry email from the wife of his attorney Reid Weingarten accusing Ruemmler of having an affair with Weingarten.
In one 2017 interview about sex crimes, Ruemmler called Epstein a “sweetie,” writing: “I hear you, sweetie, but there’s abuse ip=wer and your stuff. I know you didn’t think about it tha= way, but it’s there. And, yes, please put= your head down. :-)”
The messages also document that Ruemmler appears to express a deep personal attachment to Epstein. In a 2015 email, he told her: “Friendship comes two ways – finding peace around all this formal behavior is important to me.”
Later that year, he wrote to Epstein’s assistant: “Well, I love him.”
In another exchange, in which Epstein asked questions about prostitution and consent, Ruemmler responded that children “cannot legally consent to engage in prostitution.”
In a different twist, he asked if he had left the ring at Epstein’s house, only to be later told by an assistant that it had been found. Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto said the ring was left after an “afternoon meeting.”
A Goldman source said that despite the latest revelations, the bank’s management team “stands by its previous comments.”
Ruemmler told The Post earlier this week that he was “friendly” with Epstein after he “got to know him as a lawyer and that was the basis of my relationship with him.”
“This is who I am and how I interact with people in my professional and personal life,” Ruemmler said.
Ruemmler, who also enlisted Epstein’s help in trying to land a top gig at Facebook, added that he “had no knowledge of his criminal behavior, and I didn’t know him as the monster he portrayed himself to be.”
