Goldman Sachs’ $22m lawyer to resign after close Epstein ties revealed

Goldman Sachs’s chief legal officer Kathy Ruemmler is resigning after newly released Epstein files detailed her personal correspondence with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and luxury gifts - including a $9,400 Hermès bag and $10,000 in Bergdorf Goodman gift cards - received during her time at Latham & Watkins. 

One of America’s most high-profile lawyers, she reportedly earned more than $22 million in 2024 as Goldman Sachs’ most senior lawyer. She was former White House counsel to President Barack Obama and a litigation partner at Latham, where she chaired its global white-collar defence group. It was during her time at Latham that much of her contact with Jeffrey Epstein took place.

Ruemmler’s resignation, effective 30 June 2026, was first reported by the Financial Times, where she said: “I made the determination that the media attention on me, relating to my prior work as a defence attorney, was becoming a distraction.”

Resignation accepted

Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon accepted Ruemmler’s resignation and, in a statement, emphasised her professional achievements and personal support to colleagues during her six-year tenure at the bank.

Solomon said: “Throughout her tenure, Kathy has been an extraordinary general counsel, and we are grateful for her contributions and sound advice on a wide range of consequential legal matters for the firm.

As one of the most accomplished professionals in her field, Kathy has also been a mentor and friend to many of our people, and she will be missed. I accepted her resignation, and I respect her decision.”

The departure follows just a week after Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp relinquished his leadership post amid scrutiny over his own appearances in the Epstein files.

An impressive CV

Ruemmler’s legal career spans distinguished public and private sector roles. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2020, ascending to its top legal post, also serving as chair of the firm’s conduct committee and co-vice chair of the firm’s reputational risk committee.

While her ties to Epstein have been well-known for many years, she has previously maintained that relations were strictly professional, telling the Wall Street Journal in 2023: “I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein.”‍

The Epstein files

The latest Epstein files disclose extensive correspondence between Epstein and Ruemmler and dozens of meetings between 2014 and 2019, years after Epstein’s first conviction and registration as a sex offender in 2008.

The records include emails with a personal tone, writing at one point that she “adored him” and referring to him as “Uncle Jeffrey”. The emails also reference various luxury gifts Epstein gave her, including a $9,400 Hermès handbag, a $1,300 Hermès-branded Apple Watch, a spa day at the Four Seasons and $10,000 worth of gift cards to the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman. 

As previously reported by David Lat in Original Jurisdiction, prior Epstein files show Ruemmler seeking Epstein’s advice on major career decisions. When she was considering an approach from President Obama to replace Eric Holder as US attorney general, emails indicate she discussed her hesitation with Epstein, including concerns about leaving a Manhattan apartment costing $11,000 a month, with Latham reimbursing $8,000. 

The correspondence also suggests she consulted him after being approached by a recruiter for Hogan Lovells during her time at Latham, ultimately staying at the firm. 

Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, with New York’s chief medical examiner ruling the death a suicide.

Latham & Watkins did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firm previously said that Epstein had never been a client.