Networking With A Pedophile
Goldman Sachs defends its general counsel after her chummy relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is exposed
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with.” ―Donald Trump in 2002
Jeffrey Epstein had been a registered sex offender since 2008. Anyone maintaining a “professional relationship” with him after that date has explaining to do.
The PR guy at Goldman Sachs is now defending the investment banking giant’s general counsel after Congress released emails this week suggesting that she was one of Epstein’s pals.
Here’s what Goldman Sachs flack Tony Fratto told Business Insider about the firm’s top lawyer, Kathy Ruemmler on Thursday:
“The personal emails exclusively occurred before Kathy worked at Goldman Sachs, when Ms. Ruemmler was the global head of the White Collar Defense practice at Latham and Watkins. … As we’ve said before, and has been repeatedly reported, Ms. Ruemmler had a professional relationship with Mr. Epstein.”
It’s the PR guy defending the lawyer for once. That’s quite a role reversal, but not too inverted for this perverted saga. Here’s what Fratto told CNBC:
“These emails were private correspondence well before Kathy Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs. … Kathy is an exceptional general counsel and we benefit from her judgment every day.”
Some judgement.
One email thread showed them making plans to have sushi together in 2019. That was 17 months before Epstein was finally jailed on federal sex trafficking charges then later found dead in his cell.
Let this question sink in before the steady drip of Epstein revelations becomes too normalized: Why is anyone maintaining any kind of relationship with Epstein after 2008?
And get this: Ruemmler is currently serving as co-vice chair of Goldman’s Firmwide Reputational Risk Committee.
Sushi anyone?
Score one for Republican lawmakers for releasing 20,000 pages of emails from the Epstein files because Ruemmler had been general counsel for the Obama administration and a lawyer in the Clinton administration.
The Democrats, by contrast, only released a handful of emails that were highly incriminating for Trump.
It’s not clear why Republicans felt the need to top their rivals in this feat, particularly after their data dump served to further sully their president.
Of course, no one should be keeping score, because this story involves powerful people raping underaged girls.
Epstein worked both sides of the aisle and all of his contacts should all be outed and scrutinized for the sake of justice.
We should avoid declaring guilt by association as the breadth of this scandal comes to light, but it’s fair to ask, “Why are you associating with a registered sex offender?” Anwsers please. And they better be good. Right, Mr. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor?
Read More:
Too Big To Jail (Business Blunders)
Near Intelligence on Epstein Island (Business Blunders)
When The Wall Street Journal first uncovered Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein in 2023, Ruemmler said she regretted ever knowing Epstein.
The Journal reported dozens of meetings between Ruemmler and Epstein. She was clearly tapping the pedophile’s powerful network, getting introductions to valuable contacts, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
It’s not what you know. It’s who you know. And scores of the world’s most overprivileged people wanted to know the world’s most notorious sex offender.
The emails released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday show Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein was far chummier that previously known.
They showed her asking Epstein for career and travel advice. They also contain trash talk about Trump. Ruemmler was clearly aghast at Trump’s rise to power.
“Trump is truly stupid,” she said a 2017 email. “Trump is so gross,” she wrote in another.
“You see, i know how dirty donald is,” Epstein wrote to her.
Goldman Sachs describes the exchanges as occurring within a “professional relationship.”
Here’s what Ruemmler included in her “professional” emails with Epstein:
“I will stop to pee and get gas at a rest stop on the New Jersey turnpike, will observe all of the people there who are at least 100 pounds overweight, will have a mild panic attack as a result of the observation, and will then decide that I am not eating another bite of food for the rest of my life out of fear that I will end up like one of these people.”
Does it get any more personal than sharing your plans for a bathroom break?
Additionally, Latham & Watkins has previously said that Epstein was not a client. Epstein named Ruemmler as a backup executor on his will in 2019, but then removed her in a later version, according to TheWall Street Journal. As for Ruemmler, she has said she never had anything to do with Epstein’s estate.
So far, Ruemmler hasn’t commented on this week’s email release.
The emails do not suggest that she knew about Epstein’s global sex-trafficking enterprise. But didn’t she know about his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution?
If she didn’t, she’s not a very astute lawyer. And if she did … ?
Either way, the official word from the world’s second-largest investment bank is that it counts on her judgment.
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