On Jeffrey Epstein’s 62nd birthday in 2015, Kathy Ruemmler, a former Obama White House counsel, emailed to want him effectively, writing, “I hope you enjoy the day with your one true love. :-)”
The billionaire sex offender replied with a raunchy be aware and an obvious reference to masturbation: “They say men usually gvie [sic] a name to their penis,” Epstein wrote in a typo-laden e-mail, because it “would be inappropriate to make love to a total stranger.”
That newly launched alternate, and others, add contemporary particulars to the relationship between Epstein and Ruemmler, certainly one of the highest-paid attorneys in the nation. Ruemmler has stated that she bought to know Epstein by means of her work as a lawyer and that the two had been “friendly in that professional context.”
Amid the a whole bunch of e-mail exchanges reviewed by NCS that debate Epstein’s authorized battles and reputational issues, there are different extra private communications between the two, together with plans for a proposed journey to Epstein’s island and presents he’d given her.
In a few of their back-and-forth messages, Ruemmler mentioned private issues in her life, expressed gratitude for his or her “friendship,” and concluded her messages with “xo” and “xoxo.”
After receiving Epstein’s racy reply to her birthday well-wishes, Ruemmler responded, “Hard to believe that there is still an open question about whether men are [the] inferior gender.”
Many of the messages in the newly released files include typos and spelling errors. It’s unclear whether or not a few of these occurred as the Department of Justice ready the hundreds of thousands of pages of paperwork for public launch final month.
Ruemmler, who’s now the chief authorized officer at Goldman Sachs, has weathered quite a few information tales in latest weeks analyzing her relationship with the disgraced financier.
In an announcement to NCS in December, she stated, “I knew Jeffrey Epstein in a professional capacity when I served as head of the white collar defense group at Latham & Watkins, and he was a business referral source. I did not represent him and was not compensated by him. I was one of a number of lawyers Epstein informally reached out to for advice.”
Ruemmler has repeatedly stated she regrets ever figuring out Epstein and that she had “no knowledge of any new or ongoing unlawful activity on his part.”
Following the most up-to-date launch of Epstein recordsdata, Ruemmler and her communications staff referred NCS’s questions on her birthday alternate with Epstein to her lawyer, Tom Clare.
“The fact is: Ms. Ruemmler does not make any statement about Epstein’s penis,” Clare advised NCS in an e-mail. “She does not reference it. She does not joke about it. She does not banter with Epstein about it. She does not accede to Epstein’s unsolicited, gratuitous remarks about men and their penises. Nothing. Her participation in the entire exchange in [sic] limited to (1) wishing Epstein a happy birthday; (2) ridiculing Epstein for the remark; and (3) exiting the exchange.”
NCS has previously reported on the depth of Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein, together with how she was among a small group of advisers to assist him push back authorized and reputational danger throughout the last years of his life.
But the newest batch of messages launched on January 30 reveal in far higher element the nature of that work, exhibiting how Ruemmler suggested Epstein on lawsuits introduced by his accusers and coordinated responses to journalists, together with relating to a proposed community TV interview with a sufferer that by no means aired.
In one exchange with Epstein in February 2015, Ruemmler addressed a Crime Victims’ Rights Act lawsuit introduced by Epstein’s accusers, which sought to reopen his 2008 plea deal after he’d been indicted for sex crimes.
Ruemmler wrote to Epstein, “I told you that this CVRA case is about money.” And in one other message after inquiring about which lawyer was dealing with the case, Ruemmler wrote, “Victim’s rights, my ass.”
In another message from July 2015, which has not been beforehand reported, Ruemmler forwarded Epstein a New York Times story which featured critics of sex offender registries, like the one Epstein had been listed on for a number of years by then.
“Did you see nyt story re: extreme reac=/misapplication of sex offender registry? Thinking about whether there is a= opportunity there,” Ruemmler wrote of the New York Times story revealed the day earlier than.
Jennifer Connelly, a spokeswoman for Ruemmler, stated Epstein, at instances, “sought informal advice, and she provided feedback based on her understanding at the time, without any formal involvement.”
Months later, Ruemmler wrote to Epstein, “friendships goes two ways – getti=g you some peace with respect to all of this legal shit is important to me.”
In one other e-mail despatched that yr during a first-class journey to Europe that Epstein had booked for her, Ruemmler wrote that she was “grateful” for his or her relationship and signed off with “Xo.”
And in an email from September 2016, Epstein wrote to Ruemmler: “thansk for your friendhsip and help.”
She replied, “Back at you, and always.”
Connelly, Ruemmler’s spokesperson, declined to reply a few of the detailed questions from NCS however stated Ruemmler “has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide. Nothing in the record suggests otherwise.”
Epstein was “a man of a thousand faces,” the spokesperson stated. “Ms. Ruemmler only saw the one he put on to win people over and gain credibility and acceptance. Her views were shaped by that and his denials of any wrongdoing other than what he had pled guilty to years prior.”
Connelly stated Ruemmler “has been clear and consistent from the outset: she knew him through her work as a criminal defense attorney, shared a client with him, received referrals from him, and was friendly in that professional context.”
Ruemmler, Connelly added, “has deep sympathy for those harmed by Epstein and if she knew then what she knows now, she never would have dealt with him at all.”
‘Day trip’ to the island
According to the newly launched recordsdata, Ruemmler at one level inquired about taking a visit to Epstein’s non-public island.
In January 2017, Ruemmler requested Epstein whether or not she may take a “day trip” to the island whereas she was touring in the Caribbean. Later that yr, after Hurricane Irma severely broken the island, Ruemmler mused about traveling to the island to assist Epstein clear up. It is unclear whether or not both go to in the end occurred.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson previously stated Ruemmler by no means visited the island.
Two years later, Ruemmler thanked Epstein for what seem to be presents he despatched her. “Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today! Jeffrey boots, handbag, and w=tch!” she wrote in a January 2019 e-mail. “Thank you to Uncle Jeffrey!!!” she wrote in one other e-mail after receiving a present.
Goldman Sachs has thus far stood by Ruemmler, telling NCS after the new batch of recordsdata had been launched, “It’s well known that Epstein’s MO was to do unsolicited favors for and provide unsolicited gifts to his many business contacts.”
Ruemmler left the Obama White House in 2014 and went to work for Latham & Watkins as head of its white-collar protection group. The agency beforehand advised NCS that Epstein was by no means a shopper. In 2020, Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs and was later promoted to develop into the agency’s chief authorized officer.
The e-mail exchanges between Ruemmler and Epstein have caught the consideration of the House Oversight Committee, which has been conducting a broad examination of how the federal authorities and others dealt with Epstein’s instances and associated recordsdata. Their newest efforts have included working to receive testimony and paperwork from witnesses and establishments linked to him.
A supply aware of the committee advised NCS they had been interested by questioning Ruemmler.
“We want to hear from anyone who may have information on Epstein and his crimes and she’s not exempt from that,” the supply advised NCS.
A lately unsealed federal courtroom submitting in a civil go well with in opposition to Epstein’s property has additionally offered a window into the assistance Ruemmler gave to Epstein as he confronted potential authorized and media scrutiny.
Ruemmler is included in a batch of emails the property sought to defend from disclosure by asserting attorney-client privilege over them. The court document, referred to as a privilege log, offered detailed descriptions of these emails however hid their contents.
But in the lately launched Epstein recordsdata, at the very least a few of these emails are revealed in full.
Among the extra notable cases they doc is how Ruemmler, together with a small group of advisers, helped Epstein and his since-convicted confederate Ghislaine Maxwell navigate a probably damaging public relations state of affairs.
In April 2015, ABC News was planning a Good Morning America phase on Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who would allege that for years she was sexually abused and groomed by Epstein and Maxwell and that they trafficked her to highly effective males.
After ABC News reached out to Epstein for remark relating to Giuffre’s allegations, emails present Ruemmler coordinated technique with Epstein.
Ruemmler wrote in a single e-mail that Giuffre’s “fantastical claims are – on their face – not credibl=.”
In one email chain dated April 22, 2015, Ruemmler requested if Maxwell would give an announcement to ABC News. Epstein replied: “her lawyer provided a long winded letter t= counsel. she will do as you suggest howver.”
Ruemmler wrote that Maxwell “needs a short, on the record statement=that they will have to read on air.”
“Some suggested edits in the red-line attached,” Ruemmler wrote in an e-mail on April 23, 2015, although the attachment was not offered in the emails launched by the Justice Department.
According to the Epstein estate’s privilege log, that very same day Ruemmler despatched a doc titled “Letter to ABC (Draft 3)kr.doc” to Epstein and his private lawyer Martin Weinberg.
The following day, April 24, 2015, Weinberg despatched a proper letter to ABC News on Epstein’s behalf — a duplicate of which was launched in November by House investigators.
In that letter, Weinberg argued that Giuffre’s allegations had been uncorroborated, outdated, and contradicted by different proof, and warned ABC News that airing the interview can be “grossly negligent or worse.”
The ABC News interview with Giuffre by no means aired.
A spokesperson for ABC News previously pointed NCS to a previous assertion on the incident: “At the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we have never stopped investigating the story.”
In April 2018, Epstein emailed an affiliate about an award-winning architect accused of sexual misconduct and questioned if the man had authorized counsel. “Kathy ruemmmler has done 6 of these now for me,” Epstein wrote.
“This is false,” Connelly advised NCS. “Ms. Ruemmler did NOT do ‘6 of these’ for Epstein. Ms. Ruemmler had no control over how Epstein characterized her or their interactions. She was not his defender. She never advocated on his behalf with any third party – not the press, not a court, not a government official.”
‘Fly you to the island’
In a January 16, 2017 email, Epstein requested if he may have a airplane decide Ruemmler up in St. Lucia to fly her to “the island.”
“If you like , i can have a pl=ne pick you guys up in st lucia on sat , fly you to the island. =nbsp; and you can go home from there on sunday , if it is not too much trav=l.?!” Epstein wrote.
Ruemmler requested if she may take a “day trip” that coming Saturday.
“Off the grid all day with t=e tobacco farmers in NC. Our flight Sunday back to NY is from St Luci=. Can we take a day trip to the island on Sat or is it too far?” Ruemmler responded.
Every week later, on Tuesday, January 24, 2017, Ruemmler and Epstein despatched joking emails about former President Barack Obama visiting his island that coming Saturday when discussing a Daily Mail article on Obama, who had simply left workplace, visiting the non-public island of billionaire Richard Branson.
“Should we invite him to meet you and lisa on my isla=d saturday. . ?” Epstein wrote, suggesting a further particular person named “Lisa,” can be visiting the island.
“Much nicer than bransons. . more private=as well,” Epstein said in one other e-mail.
“If that came out, it would really be a scandal! Can you =magine what the Daily Mail would do?” replied Ruemmler.
Epstein then asked what time he ought to ship his airplane for Ruemmler: “What time sunday. My plane will be there.”
“10:30?” Ruemmler replied. Epstein appeared to coordinate a jet to decide up Ruemmler and “Lisa,” referencing a copy of Ruemmler’s passport.
“im planning on p=cking you up sun as early as you like,” he wrote in one other e-mail.
The deliberate go to seems to have fallen by means of.
“I fully understand lisa position. . not wrong,” Epstein wrote on January 28, 2017.
“Yeah – still too much risk in the air,” replied Ruemmler, who appeared two days in a while Epstein’s New York schedule for lunch.
Ruemmler additionally relied on Epstein at instances for profession recommendation.
In October 2014, Ruemmler, who had left the Obama administration months earlier than, despatched Epstein a draft public assertion declining additional consideration for the place of US lawyer normal and requested for his suggestions.
In 2018 and 2019, Ruemmler sought Epstein’s recommendation on whether or not she ought to pursue jobs with a prime tech firm, as first reported by the Financial Times. In July 2018, she emailed Epstein a draft letter she supposed to ship to Sheryl Sandberg, then a prime government at Facebook, after a gathering.
In 2019, she emailed with Epstein simply after she met with prime executives at Facebook, now Meta.
Epstein, in flip, was supportive of Ruemmler’s profession and coached her by means of the yearlong course of with Meta. He was additionally aware that his affiliation along with her may harm her probabilities.
In March 2019, Epstein wrote to Ruemmler that “i also prefer you to be clean from me when dealing with faceboo=.”