(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Kathy Ruemmler, the top legal advisor to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, has left the bank over her relationship to deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein—collecting a handsome $25 million pay package on her way out.
“Ruemmler, who will leave Goldman in June, saw her annual compensation increase 11% from the $22.5 million she received in 2024,” Bloomberg reported Friday, citing a company filing.
Ruemmler was Obama’s White House counsel from 2011 to 2014 before moving to Goldman Sachs. She reportedly first met Epstein after he called her to ask if she would be interested in representing Bill Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Epstein's close friend, ex-Obama aid and Goldman Sachs's top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler, was finally forced to resign over her links to the sex trafficker. But get this – she received an exit bonus of $25 million.
WHAT. THE. FUCK.https://t.co/0dn7y7h8LS
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) March 23, 2026
Their relationship grew closer from there. At one point, Ruemmler was an executor of Epstein’s will.
They also gossiped over politics, emails show. In 2018, for instance, Epstein was insulting Trump in emails to Ruemmler. Ruemmler sent a message to Epstein calling Trump “so gross.” A portion of that message was redacted, but Epstein replied, “worse in real life and upclose.”
After those and other emails were made public, Goldman Sachs officials supported Ruemmler. But according to the Journal, others at the investment firm—particularly women—are furious with her.
“In 2024, Solomon organized a dinner at his Manhattan apartment to address the lack of senior women in the highest ranks of the bank, which then had more than 44,000 employees. Some of the women who attended told the Journal at the time that they were appalled that Solomon had Ruemmler help organize the event,” the newspaper reported.
“Solomon later complained in a separate gathering with high-ranking women that Ruemmler had garnered that kind of reaction. He said he couldn’t believe there were senior women at the firm who would bristle at Ruemmler, explaining she was a top adviser and an important resource for the firm, according to people who were present.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
