Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon Friday defended the bank’s outgoing chief legal officer, Kathryn Ruemmler, after she resigned amid mounting scrutiny over her past ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the New York Post reports.
Solomon praised Ruemmler, a former White House counsel under President Obama, as an “extraordinary general counsel” and a “tremendous human being,” despite the controversy surrounding newly released Justice Department files.
“I’m disappointed that it got to this,” Solomon told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “But I respect her decision, and we are moving on.”
Ruemmler, 54, will formally leave the firm on June 30, according to a statement from her spokeswoman.
Solomon said she informed him Thursday that the “noise and distraction” surrounding the Epstein disclosures made it difficult for her to continue in her role.
“It was putting her in a position where it was hard for her to execute on her job and her responsibilities, and she just thought it was time to step away,” Solomon said.
Documents released by the Justice Department beginning last month revealed a series of emails between Ruemmler and Epstein, including correspondence after his 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
In the messages, Ruemmler referred to Epstein as an “older brother,” signed off emails with “xoxo,” and at times appeared to downplay his criminal history.
In one 2015 birthday email first reported by CNN, Ruemmler wrote to Epstein: “I hope you enjoy the day with your one true love :-)” — prompting a crude reply from Epstein. In another exchange, she joked about whether men were the “inferior gender.”
The emails also showed Epstein sending her gifts, including offers to purchase a luxury Hermes Apple Watch band. In one message, Ruemmler responded enthusiastically to the offer, specifying the model she preferred.
Although she never formally represented Epstein as his attorney, the documents indicate she sought his advice on potential career moves and assisted in coordinating responses to media inquiries, including a planned Good Morning America segment featuring one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre.
Ruemmler was one of Solomon’s earliest high-profile hires after he became CEO in 2018 and was widely viewed as a close ally within the firm’s leadership ranks.
Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and died the following month in a Manhattan jail cell in what the city’s medical examiner ruled a suicide.
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