By Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs queried its former top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler in 2023, 2025 and 2026 about links to Jeffrey Epstein amid growing scrutiny of the late convicted sex offender's ties to the elite and wealthy, according to a transcript released by the U.S. Congress House Oversight Committee.
"I wouldn't characterize it as investigation, but there were reviews done and questions asked. And that occurred in 2023. That occurred again in 2025, in 2026, as there was
increasing media scrutiny around anybody who had ever sat in the same room with Jeffrey Epstein," Ruemmler said, according to the transcript released late on Wednesday.
The internal Goldman Sachs inquiries have not previously been reported and could raise further questions over the bank's decision to retain Ruemmler, despite knowing of her links to Epstein.
A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.
Ruemmler stepped down as Goldman's chief legal officer and general counsel at the end of June after documents published by the Justice Department showed she had extensive communications with Epstein and had also accepted gifts from him.
Ruemmler testified before the Oversight Committee earlier this month, during which she said Epstein was a "masterful liar" and that she would have reported him to law enforcement had she known he was abusing women or girls.
Before joining Goldman in 2020, Ruemmler worked at the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP and also previously served in the White House as counsel to President Barack Obama.
During the Goldman inquiries, Ruemmler told the Wall Street bank that she knew Epstein, and had communicated and "dealt" with him, she told the Oversight Committee.
She also told Goldman that while Epstein had not been one of her clients, he had been a primary adviser to one of her clients, and that "he would certainly ask my views on things from time to time," she told the Committee.
Ruemmler, who is now serving in an advisory role at Goldman Sachs, said she is involved in the search process for the next general counsel.
Asked by a committee member to promise that her successor would have had no association with Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Ruemmler said that person "will be selected by our CEO in consultation with our board of directors."
"In the American legal system we hold people accountable for their conduct. We don't hold people accountable for their associations," she said.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Michelle Price and Bill Berkrot)
