Kathy Ruemmler isn’t being pushed out of Goldman Sachs, but the company is making plans for her eventual departure from the big investment bank, On The Money has learned.
That departure could take place in the coming weeks, when the firm, as expected, names a new general counsel. That’s the post Ruemmler held until earlier this year, when she decided to step down from the high-profile legal position amid the controversy over her past business association with the notorious child-sex predator and one time-high-flying financier, Jeffrey Epstein.
Her departure as GC was effective in June but she remains as an adviser to the firm, helping with the GC search and other legal matters, that is until a permanent replacement is found, people with knowledge of the matter say.
“I have no idea when exactly she will leave, but after (Goldman) selects a new general counsel, she will leave the firm,” said a person with knowledge of the matter.
On The Money has covered the Ruemmler imbroglio since it first surfaced from emails that are part of the controversial “Epstein Files,” a document dump by the Trump administration that includes details about Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a 17-year-old prostitute, his business dealings and later the multi-count child sex-trafficking case the government brought against him just before his 2019 suicide in a Manhattan jail cell.
The documents span some 3.5 million pages of emails, images and videos detailing correspondence between the one-time top financial adviser and his well-heeled circle of business friends such as Ruemmler.
Prior to joining Goldman, Ruemmler was a corporate lawyer whose client, a large Swiss bank, designated Epstein as someone she needed to consult with on legal matters — dealings she disclosed to Goldman before her hiring. But her chatty correspondence with Epstein (she referred to him occasionally as “Uncle Jeffrey” while Epstein showered her with various gifts albeit unsolicited) created a media firestorm for the big bank and Ruemmler herself.
To spare the firm from further controversy, Ruemmler resigned as Goldman’s general counsel in February of this year, but remained with the firm as an adviser, raising some eyebrows within the prestigious investment bank.
In July, Ruemmler provided testimony to the House Oversight Committee investigating the child sex-trafficking allegations against Epstein, including his lenient initial sentence and continued business associations with major players in high finance and banking nearly to the time of his second arrest.
Ruemmler was once White House counsel to the Obama administration and subsequently went into private practice, running the white-collar defense unit at Latham & Watkins. which is where she came across Epstein. The then convicted pedophile wasn’t her client, but rather worked as a gatekeeper for her client, the Edmond de Rothschild Group.
Emails show a chummy relationship between the two up until Epstein’s second arrest. As On The Money has previously reported, Ruemmler turned down $30 million from Epstein to serve as his private attorney after his 2019 arrest.
In her testimony, Ruemmler said she had “no knowledge of any new or ongoing unlawful activity on his part,” The Post previously reported, and she said her emails to him reflected the way she dealt with people she worked with.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon believed Ruemmler was being unfairly cast in a negative light, grudgingly accepting her resignation as GC and asked her to stay as a legal adviser in June when an interim GC was named. As On The Money has reported, she is helping with the GC search and other legal issues she had worked on during her six years at the firm.
Now that advisory role is likely coming to an end as well, people close to the firm say, as Goldman prepares to name a permanent general counsel to take over for its acting legal chief, Michael Bosworth.
A spokeswoman for Ruemmler had no comment but would not deny this report. A Goldman rep also would not deny and had no comment.
Ruemmler, according to people who know her, is likely to return to private practice since she was regarded as one of the nation’s top white collar attorneys. Money, however, won’t be a problem: In March the firm announced she was to receive a $25 million compensation package covering her work in 2025.
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