Goldman Sachs top attorney Kathy Ruemmler and Jeffrey Epstein exchanged countless emails through the years, according to files released by the government.
However, it took the fallout over a crude remark from Epstein, and her reaction to it, in just one email from the convicted sex offender for her to decide to leave her run as the top attorney at the prestigious law firm, according to sources close to her.
Ruemmler, who had communications with Epstein through one of her legal clients, is mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files, but the remark from Epstein,
referring to his penis and alluding to masturbation, along with her response to it, made her situation even more difficult, according to the sources, reports The New York Post
on Saturday.
"That email did it," one person close to the powerhouse attorney, who was in contact with her up until when she resigned, said.
"It was just too much to explain away to friends and others even if there was an innocent explanation," the person added. "She was tired. She wanted it all to end.”
The message in question dates back to 2015, when Ruemmer was a top attorney at the Latham & Watkins firm, where she ended up after serving as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama's administration.
Ruemmler sent Epstein a birthday email wishing him a "Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy the day with your one true love. :-)”
He responded: "They say that men usually give a name to their penis, as it would be inappropriate to make love to a total stranger."
Ruemmler replied: "It's hard to believe that there is still an open question about whether men are [t]he inferior gender."
Another source close to Ruemmler said that her casual response went too far and "just put her over the edge."
"It’s so sad what happened to her because when all is said and done, she didn’t do anything wrong but talk to this guy," the source said.
Ruemmler, unlike many of the people included in Epstein's circles, ended up communicating with Epstein not for personal reasons but through her work for one of her clients, the Swiss Bank Edmond de Rothschild Group.
Even though Epstein had entered a guilty plea in 2008 for soliciting sex from an underage prostitute, he was to serve as the gatekeeper for the legal work being handled by Ruemmler.
But their emails gradually became more friendly, including when she referred to Epstein as "Uncle Jeffrey" after she received a pair of boots from him.
The two are also seen in the emails talking about trips to Epstein's Caribbean island.
And even though Ruemmler's reps say she never engaged Epstein as a client, one of his first calls after he was arrested in 2019 and before he was found dead in his jail cell was to her.
Goldman Sachs stood behind Ruemmler for months, under the impression that even while her dealings with Epstein could look bad, she was associated with him on behalf of a client.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon on Friday defended Ruemmler, praising her as an "extraordinary general counsel” and a “tremendous human being," despite the controversy.
"I’m disappointed that it got to this," Solomon told CNBC’s Squawk Box. "But I respect her decision, and we are moving on."
She carried on with her duties, but was reeling privately, according to sources who said that her colleagues at Goldman were leaking stories about plans to move her out of her job, which the firm denied.
Ruemmler has said that she was fooled into believing that Epstein's conviction of one count of child prostitution was a mistake he had made, thinking the girl was of legal age, reports The Post.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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