NEW YORK
Kathy Ruemmler, the high-powered general counsel of Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, announced her resignation Thursday following the release of documents revealing a previously undisclosed closeness with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The announcement marks a stunning fall for Ruemmler, 54, whose legal career was defined by landmark achievements: prosecuting Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling as a federal prosecutor, serving in senior roles throughout the Obama administration, and once being considered by the president for U.S. Attorney General.
But newly unearthed emails and correspondence, reviewed by The Associated Press, paint a far more personal relationship with Epstein than Ruemmler or Goldman Sachs had previously acknowledged.
The documents detail intimate exchanges, social plans, and gifts, suggesting a connection that extended well beyond the professional bounds Ruemmler had insisted upon.
Ruemmler had previously distanced herself from the disgraced financier, describing him as a “monster” and expressing regret for their association.
She maintained their contact was strictly professional, rooted in her work as a private defense attorney before joining Goldman.
The trove of correspondence, released in recent weeks, contradicts those assertions, revealing a friendship that persisted years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for sex crimes, which required him to register as a sex offender.
By James Kisoo
