Goldman Sachs’ (GS.N), opens new tab top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler accepted gifts from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and advised him on how to address press inquiries regarding his crimes, according to a Reuters review of emails among millions of documents the U.S. Department of Justice released last week.
Ruemmler, who was also White House counsel during the Obama administration, referred to Epstein in emails as “Uncle Jeffrey” and received gifts from him including wine and a handbag, the documents show.
Ruemmler had a large number of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after the disgraced financier’s 2008 guilty plea for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, the documents showed.
These communications included advising Epstein on how to respond to a media query in 2019 concerning the alleged special legal treatment he received because of his connections, the emails show.
“I was a defense attorney when I dealt with Jeffrey Epstein,” Ruemmler said in a statement on Tuesday. “I got to know him as a lawyer and that was the foundation of my relationship with him.
“I had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part, and I did not know him as the monster he has been revealed to be,” she continued. “These decade-old private emails you are selectively referencing and pruriently reporting on have nothing to do with my work at Goldman Sachs.”
Goldman spokesperson Tony Fratto said in an email that Epstein often offered unsolicited favors and gifts to many business contacts.
Goldman has backed Ruemmler in the past, with CEO David Solomon calling her “an excellent general counsel.”
Fratto has said Goldman understood the nature of Ruemmler’s prior job as a white-collar defense lawyer, and was satisfied after conducting its own diligence.
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