Newly released records from the House Oversight Committee show that Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel to President Barack Obama and is now general counsel at Goldman Sachs, was listed as a backup executor of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate in a will dated January 2019.
The documents, published by the committee on Monday, include a copy of the January 2019 will and other files related to the disgraced financier. The will names Epstein’s former personal lawyer, Darren Indyke, and his former accountant, Richard Kahn, as primary executors; the pair were slated to receive $250,000 for administering the estate. The release also included other materials from the investigation, among them a copy of an alleged birthday card to Epstein from former President Donald Trump that the White House has denied was drawn by him.
The files renewed scrutiny of Ruemmler’s ties to Epstein because a private calendar previously made public in April 2023 shows dozens of meetings between Ruemmler and Epstein between 2013 and 2017. Those calendar entries, along with emails and other scheduling materials, indicated lunch and dinner meetings and listed Ruemmler as scheduled for travel with Epstein, including a planned trip to Paris in 2015 and a proposed visit to Epstein’s U.S. Virgin Islands property in 2017. According to the documents, Ruemmler worked at the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP during the period covered by the calendar entries.
Goldman Sachs, where Ruemmler is the firm’s general counsel, said the newly released information did not change its view of her. "Kathy’s legal judgment is widely respected and she has always put the interest of the firm first," Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto said in a statement cited by news outlets. Fratto told The Wall Street Journal in 2023 that Epstein first contacted Ruemmler seeking representation for Bill Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Ruemmler has said she never served in any role related to Epstein’s estate. "I have nothing to do with the estate and have never served in any capacity relating to the estate," she told The Wall Street Journal. She also told reporters in 2023, "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein." A Goldman spokesman said Ruemmler never visited Epstein’s island and never accepted an invitation to fly with him. The company said Epstein introduced her to other contacts and clients as part of ordinary professional networking and that she did not raise concerns about the presence of young women during meetings at Epstein’s townhouse.
The documents include exchanges in which Epstein’s staff discussed whether some young women who worked as assistants should avoid the townhouse while Ruemmler was present. According to the materials, Epstein instructed one woman not to be around and told another it would be OK. Goldman has said Ruemmler did not express concern during her meetings there.
The will in the released set of documents was signed in January 2019, several months before Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Other records published by the committee show that Epstein updated certain estate documents after his July 2019 arrest.
The new disclosure follows a series of releases over recent years that have made public calendars, emails and other records tied to Epstein’s business and social contacts. Those earlier releases prompted questions about the extent of Epstein’s ties to prominent figures in finance, law and politics. The House Oversight release adds another estate document to the public record and has prompted renewed media interest and scrutiny of professional and social contacts listed in the files.
Representatives for the House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indyke and Kahn did not respond to requests for comment through listed contacts in the public record. The release comes as media and legal attention continue to mine the trove of documents tied to Epstein’s activities and to the disposition of his estate after his death.