Senior executives at Goldman Sachs are reportedly uneasy about the bank’s decision to stand by its top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler — despite a newly released cache of emails that shed more light on the close friendship she shared with late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ruemmler, the chief legal officer and general counsel at the Manhattan-based investment bank, has had the backing of CEO David Solomon despite dozens of emails that show how chummy she was with Epstein after he pleaded guilty to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.
But top partners at the firm are privately ruing the bank’s public statements of support for Ruemmler in recent months, including from Solomon, Bloomberg News reported.
Solomon told CNBC in December that Ruemmler “is an excellent lawyer and the organization relies on her guidance every single day.”
Goldman spokesperson Tony Fratto said earlier this week that “Kathy was always forthcoming” with the bank and that she “disclosed her association with Epstein before joining the firm and she has answered every question the firm has ever asked.”
Still, the Ruemmler-Epstein emails have reportedly cast a pall over Goldman’s annual retreat, where some 400 partners from around the world are set to gather later this week at a luxury hotel in Miami Beach.
Goldman declined to comment.
But a Goldman source disputed the characterization of the retreat, telling The Post: “The mood at the meeting has been very positive.”
“Partners are using the time to focus on how we keep the momentum from last year’s record results,” the source added.
Goldman executives were reportedly unhappy to read about the expensive gifts that Epstein bought for Ruemmler, who befriended the convicted pedophile years before she joined the bank.
The DOJ files show Epstein lavished Ruemmler, who was a partner at law firm Latham & Watkins at the time, with expensive gifts including a $9,400 Hermès bag, a $4,200 Fendi fur-trimmed plaid wool coat, and a $1,700 Fendi leather shoulder bag.
When Epstein’s office asked whether she wanted a new Apple Watch band, Ruemmler requested an indigo blue leather strap from Hermès, according to the records.
Other emails show Epstein’s staff offering to buy her Broadway tickets, and Ruemmler once reminding the sick financier that she likes wine with dinner, signing off with “xoxo” and a smiley emoji.
Goldman executives who spoke to Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity said that they would be fired for accepting gifts worth a fraction of the value that Ruemmler was given by Epstein before she was hired by the firm.
A Goldman source told The Post that Ruemmler wasn’t an employee of the bank when this occured and “the compliance policies at law firms are different than the compliance policies at regulated banks.”
“Kathy has complied with the relevant policies everywhere she’s worked,” the source added.
Newly released emails show Ruemmler used an affectionate tone with Epstein, at times calling him “Uncle Jeffrey” and likening him to “another older brother,” according to emails shared by the Justice Department.
She also forwarded Epstein an angry email from the wife of his lawyer Reid Weingarten accusing Ruemmler of having an affair with Weingarten.
In one 2017 exchange touching on sex crimes, Ruemmler addressed Epstein as “sweetie,” writing: “I hear you, sweetie, but there is abuse of p=wer with your stuff too. I know you didn’t think about it tha= way, but it’s there. And, yes, please kee= your head down. :-)”
The messages also document Ruemmler appearing to express deep personal attachment to Epstein. In a 2015 email, she told him: “friendships goes two ways — getti=g you some peace with respect to all of this legal shit is important to me.”
Later that year, she wrote to Epstein’s assistant: “Well, I adore him.”
In another exchange, in which Epstein raised questions about prostitution and consent, Ruemmler responded that minors “could not legally consent to engaging in prostitution.”
In a different missive, she asked whether she had left a ring behind at Epstein’s house, later being told by an assistant that it had been found. Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto said the ring was left after “an afternoon meeting.”
A Goldman source said that despite the latest revelations, the bank’s management team “stands by its previous comments.”
Ruemmler told The Post earlier this week that she was “friendly with” Epstein after she “got to know him as a lawyer and that was the foundation of my relationship with him.”
“This is how I am and how I interact with people in both my professional and personal lives,” Ruemmler said.
Ruemmler, who also enlisted Epstein’s help in trying to land a senior gig at Facebook, added that she “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.”
