NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler will face tough questioning from members of Congress on Wednesday over her links to Jeffrey Epstein, as lawmakers probe the late convicted sex offender's ties with the political and business elites.
Ruemmler will appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as part of its investigation into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ruemmler stepped down as chief legal officer and general counsel at
the end of June, pending a replacement, after documents published by the U.S. Justice Department showed she had extensive communications with Epstein and had also accepted gifts from him.
Epstein, who died in a New York City prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, had extensive ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business, including President Donald Trump. His death was ruled a suicide.
The hearing has pushed Goldman back into the spotlight over its decision to keep Ruemmler, despite her links to the convicted sex offender.
Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Ruemmler did not respond to a request for comment.
The oversight committee has interviewed political leaders such as former President Bill Clinton, current Commerce Secretary and former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Goldman CEO David Solomon said in a CNBC interview at the time that Ruemmler told him the press coverage of the work she had done put "her in a position where it was hard for her to execute on her job and her responsibilities, and she just thought it was time to step away."
She agreed to continue in an advisory role as senior counsel until the company appointed a new chief legal officer, Solomon said in June, a decision that has been criticized by some lawmakers.
Her spokesperson reiterated an earlier statement that she had done nothing wrong and had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity on Epstein's part when she interacted with him as a practicing criminal defense attorney.
Ruemmler had a large number of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after his 2008 guilty plea for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, U.S. Justice Department documents showed.
The documents showed she accepted gifts from Epstein and advised him on how to address media inquiries regarding his crimes.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; editing by David Gaffen)
