By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Saeed Azhar
Feb 3 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler accepted gifts from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and advised him on how to address press inquiries regarding his crimes, according to a Reuters review of emails among millions of documents the U.S. Department of Justice released last week.
Ruemmler, who was also White House counsel during the Obama administration, referred to Epstein in emails as “Uncle Jeffrey” and received gifts from him including wine and a handbag, the documents show.
Ruemmler had a large number of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after the disgraced financier’s 2008 guilty plea for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, the documents showed.
These communications included advising Epstein on how to respond to a media query in 2019 concerning the alleged special legal treatment he received because of his connections, the emails show.
“I was a defense attorney when I dealt with Jeffrey Epstein,” Ruemmler said in a statement on Tuesday. “I got to know him as a lawyer and that was the foundation of my relationship with him.
“I had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part, and I did not know him as the monster he has been revealed to be,” she continued. “These decade-old private emails you are selectively referencing and pruriently reporting on have nothing to do with my work at Goldman Sachs.”
Goldman spokesperson Tony Fratto said in an email that Epstein often offered unsolicited favors and gifts to many business contacts.
Goldman has backed Ruemmler in the past, with CEO David Solomon calling her “an excellent general counsel.”
Fratto has said Goldman understood the nature of Ruemmler’s prior job as a white-collar defense lawyer, and was satisfied after conducting its own diligence.
RUEMMLER RECEIVED GIFTS FROM EPSTEIN, DOCUMENTS SHOW
The newly released documents provided more details about Epstein’s ties to prominent people in politics, finance and academia, both before and after his 2008 guilty plea.
Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He died in his Manhattan jail cell the following month, in what New York City’s chief medical examiner called a suicide.
In 2018, a third party, whose name the government redacted, emailed Ruemmler to say that Epstein wanted to buy a band for her Apple Watch.
“I love the Hermes one!” she responded. “If truly okay with him to do the Hermes, I would love the 40 mm, stainless Hermes with bleu indigo swift leather double tour.”
In 2019, she thanked Epstein for more gifts.
“Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today! Jeffrey boots, handbag, and watch!” Ruemmler wrote.
Bloomberg and the Financial Times earlier reported on the email exchanges.
In another set of emails from 2016, Epstein asked Ruemmler what Donald Trump, who later became U.S. president, should say when asked questions about him.
Ruemmler responded that Trump should say: “I knew Epstein professionally and always had positive dealings with him. I don’t know anything about his personal legal issues other than what I have read in public reports, and therefore don’t have any comment.”
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar in New York; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Lisa Shumaker)
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