Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is dealing with new scrutiny from congressional Democrats over his reported effort to retain the financial institution’s high lawyer months after she said she would resign over revelations about her ties to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said Solomon’s determination to retain Kathy Ruemmler as an adviser after her deliberate departure in late June raises questions on his “professional judgement and fitness” to proceed main one in all Wall Street’s strongest corporations.
Ruemmler introduced in February she would resign from Goldman Sachs after a collection of studies, together with plenty of tales from NCS’s KFile team, chronicled her in depth ties to Epstein.
In their letter, the Democratic lawmakers have argued that Solomon’s dealing with of an argument that engulfed Ruemmler and led to her resignation announcement earlier this 12 months calls into query each his management and Goldman Sachs’s oversight of the matter.
“The information uncovered in recent months not only raises serious questions as to whether Goldman Sachs either failed to conduct proper due diligence or viewed Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein as appropriate when appointing her as the firm’s top lawyer, but now calls into question your professional judgement and fitness to continue leading one of the largest banks in the United States,” the pair wrote.
Warren, the rating member on the Senate Banking Committee, and Krishnamoorthi requested Goldman Sachs to clarify what Ruemmler disclosed about Epstein earlier than becoming a member of the agency, whether or not the financial institution was conscious that she had suggested him on authorized and public-relations issues, and what further due diligence it performed earlier than elevating her to probably the most highly effective authorized positions on Wall Street.
They additionally sought particulars about her reported transition to a Goldman advisory position, compensation and whether or not regulators had been knowledgeable of her ties to Epstein. They requested for written solutions from the agency by June 26, although the financial institution is underneath no authorized obligation to reply.
Ruemmler announced in February that she would resign from her position as chief authorized officer on the agency efficient June 30. The Financial Times and Bloomberg reported on Friday that Solomon requested her to keep on as an advisor. NCS has not verified the studies.
NCS reached out to Goldman Sachs and Ruemmler. Both declined to remark.
In an interview printed Thursday by The New York Times opinion section as a part of a visitor essay, Ruemmler said she maintained contact with Epstein due to the enterprise and networking calls for of her work as a company lawyer and that she didn’t totally perceive the extent of his crimes on the time.
“If I had seen or heard anything to suggest that Epstein was harming women or girls, I would have taken action to stop it,” she said within the visitor essay interview.
The letter follows months of scrutiny over Ruemmler’s ties to Epstein after a trove of information launched by the Justice Department revealed her in depth ties to the disgraced financier. A former Obama White House counsel, Ruemmler exchanged a whole bunch of messages with Epstein within the years after she left the White House in 2014, and earlier than she joined Goldman.
The messages present that Ruemmler accepted presents from Epstein and that she appeared to advise him on authorized and reputational issues years after his 2008 conviction.
The information additionally present that Ruemmler mentioned authorized and media methods associated to allegations towards Epstein, thanked him for costly presents and, at one level, explored taking a trip to his private island that ultimately did not occur.
Other data show Ruemmler suggested Epstein on litigation introduced by his accusers and helped coordinate responses to journalists inspecting allegations that he sexually abused underage ladies. In one 2015 electronic mail, she wrote that “friendships goes two ways – getti=g you some peace with respect to all of this legal shit is important to me.”
In one other alternate, she described a information article about Epstein as “a novella of rehashed crap.” Ruemmler told NCS in December that she was referring to the article as crap however not the allegations. “I have deep sympathy for anyone victimized by Epstein, and as I have said many times, I regret ever knowing him,” she said.
Ruemmler has said for the reason that launch of the information she knew Epstein by way of her work as a white-collar protection legal professional and didn’t formally characterize him, nor was she compensated by him, and had no data of any ongoing prison conduct on his half.
Goldman Sachs has additionally maintained that her relationship with Epstein was skilled in nature.
Ruemmler had beforehand said she knew Epstein as a “business referral source.”
The lawmakers Warren and Krishnamoorthi additionally questioned Goldman Sachs’s compensation of Ruemmler regardless of the rising controversy surrounding her ties to Epstein.
“The firm has also been extremely generous in its financial support of Ruemmler. It was revealed in March that Ruemmler received an 11 percent raise, bringing her total compensation for 2025 to an astounding $25 million. Ruemmler’s company stock options, which are valued at about $80 million, are expected to vest over the next two years,” they wrote.
“If Ruemmler is no longer departing the bank, please provide the reasoning, her new title, duties associated with her new role, and details regarding her compensation package,” they requested.
They are usually not the one lawmakers serious about listening to about Ruemmler’s ties to Epstein. The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to interview Ruemmler behind closed doorways on July 15 as a part of its investigation into Epstein.