Top Goldman Sachs lawyer who called Epstein ‘older brother’ in emails resigns

Kathy Ruemmler, a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and a former White House counsel to Barack Obama, announced her resignation on Thursday. The move follows the emergence of emails with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which reportedly showed a close relationship where she described him as an “older brother” and appeared to downplay his sex crimes.

Ruemmler confirmed she would “step down as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Goldman Sachs as of June 30, 2026.”

She had previously attempted to distance herself from the correspondence, having been defiant about not resigning from the senior legal post she held since 2020.

While Ruemmler has recently called Epstein a “monster,” her relationship with him was markedly different before his 2019 arrest for sex crimes and subsequent death by suicide. Emails reveal she referred to Epstein as “Uncle Jeffrey” and stated she adored him.

In a statement before her resignation, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said Ruemmler “regrets ever knowing him.”

During her time in private practice after she left the White House in 2014, Ruemmler received several expensive gifts from Epstein, including luxury handbags and a fur coat. The gifts were given after Epstein had already been convicted of sex crimes in 2008 and was registered as a sex offender.

“So lovely and thoughtful! Thank you to Uncle Jeffrey!!!” Ruemmler wrote to Epstein in 2018.

Historically, Wall Street frowns on gift-giving between clients and bankers or Wall Street lawyers, particularly high-end gifts that could pose a conflict of interest. Goldman Sachs requires its employees to get preapproval before receiving or giving gifts from clients, according to the company’s code of conduct, partly in order to not run afoul of anti-bribery laws.

As late as December, Goldman CEO David Solomon described Ruemmler as an “excellent lawyer” and said she had his full faith and backing.