Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon stated he had reluctantly accepted Chief Legal Officer Kathy Ruemmler’s resignation, he instructed CNBC on Friday and careworn that he revered her choice to depart.
“I reluctantly accepted her resignation, but I respect her decision,” he instructed CNBC in an interview.
Recent paperwork launched by the U.S. Justice Department confirmed Ruemmler accepted items from late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein and suggested him on the best way to tackle media inquiries concerning his crimes. The departure of Ruemmler, who was among the many prime govt officers of the Wall Street agency, is essentially the most high-profile banking exit after the discharge of the newest Epstein paperwork. Solomon instructed CNBC Ruemmler referred to as him on Thursday afternoon and instructed him that the press protection of the work that she had achieved beforehand had “just gotten to a level of noise and distraction that she thought was distracting the firm.”
“It was putting her in a position where it was hard for her to execute on her job and her responsibilities, and she just thought it was time to step away,” Solomon stated.
Ruemmler had a lot of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after the disgraced financier’s 2008 responsible plea for procuring an individual below the age of 18 for prostitution, the paperwork confirmed.
Before becoming a member of Goldman Sachs in 2020, Ruemmler was world chair of the white collar protection and investigations observe at Latham & Watkins LLP.
Ruemmler, who was additionally White House counsel in the course of the Obama administration, referred to Epstein in emails as “Uncle Jeffrey” and acquired items from him together with wine and a purse, the paperwork present.
Epstein additionally referred to as Ruemmler’s cellular phone when he was arrested on July 6, 2019, amongst different calls he made that night time, based on two paperwork that cited notes from regulation enforcement officers.
Ruemmler couldn’t be reached for a remark.
Goldman backed the lawyer in the course of the launch of the a number of paperwork by the U.S. Justice Department, with Solomon saying on Thursday in a press release she was one of the achieved professionals in her subject.
On Friday, he instructed CNBC, Goldman’s administration crew labored very carefully with Ruemmler over the past six years.
“We know her as a professional and we know her as a human being. And I think that’s lost sometimes in some of the dialogue,” Solomon stated on CNBC. “I’m disappointed that it got to this.”
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Reporting by Anna Peverieri in Barcelona and Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski