'Uncle Jeffrey': Top Goldman lawyer features in Epstein docs

The Justice Department’s largest batch of Epstein files yet, released Friday, includes reams of fresh documents mentioning Ruemmler, now the investment bank’s general counsel.

• Goldman Sachs' top lawyer Ruemmler had years of friendly exchanges with Epstein
• Epstein sent Ruemmler gifts and emails; she later said she regretted knowing him
• Goldman CEO and leadership continue to support Ruemmler despite revelations

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Kathy Ruemmler, a legal star on her way to becoming Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s top lawyer, had a nickname for Jeffrey Epstein: “Uncle Jeffrey.”

That’s what she called the convicted sex offender in a 2016 email about a meeting, in an October 2018 note about a “lovely and thoughtful” gift and in another message in 2019: “Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today! Jeffrey boots, handbag, and w=tch!”

On Halloween in 2018, after she told him that she’d contacted the chair of her law firm about a financial matter, Epstein wrote back: “good girl.” The next year, he was charged with sex trafficking minors, and he died in prison soon after.

The Justice Department’s largest batch of Epstein files yet, released Friday, includes reams of fresh documents mentioning Ruemmler, now the investment bank’s general counsel. Together, they shine more light on years of interactions that she has said she regrets. The trove of emails, featuring nicknames, gifts, advice and a reminder of a spa day, add to messages that have already been disclosed. Goldman Chief Executive Officer David Solomon has stood by her throughout.

For years, Epstein relied on connections to some of the country’s most prominent lawyers, investors, executives, political figures, academics and media advisers, who helped him thrive even after he pleaded guilty to two Florida state charges in 2008 and served a year in prison.

Though his correspondence with members of that network was often casual and involved thousands of gifts, the warm tone of his emails with Ruemmler stands out. She and the bank have said she used his network while seeking clients in private practice.

“Obviously, it’s normal and common for people engaged in a professional capacity to have inconsequential friendly exchanges,” said Tony Fratto, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs. The emails don’t change Ruemmler’s role at Goldman, he added. “Of course not. As David has said, Kathy is an excellent general counsel and we benefit from her advice every day. Kathy has always had the support of the entire leadership team and the board and is widely respected and admired at the firm.”

The emails indicate that Epstein’s house manager was dispatched in 2014 to return a ring that she had left at his home. They include invitations to meetings with guests including Steve Bannon, not long after he left the White House, where he had been Donald Trump’s senior counselor.

On one January day in 2016, Epstein’s schedule included breakfast with Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Marc Rowan, lunch with Ruemmler and dinner with Woody Allen and his wife.

Epstein’s office apparently sent Ruemmler a handbag in 2015, flowers in 2018 and, later that year, offered to buy a new band for her Apple Watch. Ruemmler wrote back: “I love the Hermes one! If truly okay with him to do the Hermes, I would love the 40 mm, stainless Hermes with bleu indigo and swift leather double tour.”

He bought her a bottle of wine early the next year. And weeks later, they made an appointment, months before his death.

At times, the two also discussed weightier issues. During the US presidential campaign in early 2016, Epstein told Ruemmler he expected Trump would be asked soon about him. Epstein wrote to the lawyer: “in and ideal world what would you think he should/could say”?

Ruemmler suggested this response: “I knew Epstein professionally and alw=ys had positive dealings with him. I don’t know anything about his pe=sonal legal issues other than what I have read in public reports, and there=ore don’t have any comment.”

A White House counsel in Barack Obama’s administration, Ruemmler returned to the firm Latham & Watkins in 2014, was hired by Goldman in 2020 and then became its general counsel with a remit that includes managing reputational risks. After disclosures in 2023 of her meetings with Epstein, she said she’d regretted ever knowing him. At the time, the company said she had already told its leadership about their association.

Some of her emails with him became public in November as part of Epstein documents released by the House Oversight Committee. Solomon lent his support, calling her an “excellent lawyer.”