By AnnaMaria Andriotis

Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler will step down after the Jeffrey Epstein files showed she had remained a close ally of the convicted sex offender through his 2019 arrest.

Goldman said Ruemmler, 54, had decided she would resign.

Ruemmler had risen to the top ranks of Wall Street and become a key adviser to Goldman Chief Executive David Solomon after a storied legal career. As a prosecutor, she helped try Enron executives. She was picked as White House counsel by former President Barack Obama and was once considered a candidate to be U.S. attorney general.

The Wall Street Journal revealed Ruemmler's relationship with Epstein in 2023 when it reported she was among the powerful people regularly meeting with him in the years after he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

In the past several months, batches of documents released by Congress and the Justice Department added more detail to the relationship, deepening concerns among some inside the bank about her position. Documents showed that Epstein had listed Ruemmler as a backup executor in a version of his will and called her the night he was arrested in 2019. They also detailed their extensive chatty emails and the luxury gifts he showered on her.

Ruemmler maintained that she had a professional relationship with Epstein and shared a client with him. She said she didn't represent him or advocate for him, but that he had sought her advice occasionally. She said she regretted ever knowing him and had no knowledge of any new or ongoing unlawful activity on his part.

The bank and Solomon had been steadfast in their support for Ruemmler for months, saying they considered her a valuable member of management. The bank denied the Journal's reporting in January that a top Goldman executive told a few close associates he was formulating a contingency plan in which Ruemmler would leave later this year. Bank spokesman Tony Fratto told the Journal at the time that Goldman's board had complete confidence in Ruemmler. He later said Epstein had given many people unsolicited gifts.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2026 20:30 ET (01:30 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.