Morning Coffee: Goldman Sachs stands by its "feminist" on $23m. Bank CEO lies in until 5am following cancer diagnosis

When Goldman Sachs hired Kathryn Ruemmler in 2020, it ran some checks on her past. A spokesman told Bloomberg that the firm did its own due diligence and "was satisfied." Six years later, Goldman insists it's satisfied still. But Ruemmler - who earned $22.5m working for the firm in 2024 is testing the definition of contentment.

Ruemmler is one Goldman Sachs most senior women. She joined the firm as head of regulatory affairs and has thrived. These days, she's a member of Goldman Sachs' management committee. She is chief legal officer and general counsel. She's head of Goldman's firmwide conduct committee, which ensures the integrity of its personnel. She is chair of the reputational risk committee, which protects Goldman's reputation. 

Ruemmler is also a close advisor to Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon. Solomon thinks Ruemmler is great. He said recently: “Kathy is an excellent general counsel and we benefit from her advice every day.”

And yet, emails Ruemmler exchanged with Jeffrey Epstein in her pre-Goldman Sachs days are raising eyebrows about who she has dispensed her advice to. The Wall Street Journal notes that Epstein called Ruemmler when he was arrested in 2018. Bloomberg notes that a version of Epstein's 2019 will listed her as a back-up trustee. The New York Post observes that Epstein - in offering to despatch Ruemmler to talk to Bill Gates' wife, called her "an arch feminist who is my great defender." [Gates spokesman said the reference is "absurd" and "completely false."]

Ruemmler strenuously denies any wrongdoing relating to Epstein. The WSJ notes that she never represented him. Ruemmler's spokesperson says she was never Epstein's defender and had no control over how Epstein categorised her. Epstein simply "informally reached out" to Ruemmler for advice, "just as he did with numerous other prominent lawyers throughout the country.” Epstein was a “monster,” said Ruemmler in a statement to Bloomberg last Tuesday; she regrets ever knowing him. She had "no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part.”

Ruemmler's emails to Jeffrey have also emerged in the Department of Justice files. In 2015 she told Epstein's assistant, "I adore him” and offered advice on Epstein's plea agreement, noting that, minors "could not legally consent to engaging in prostitution.”  In 2017 she called him "sweetie". In 2016, the FT notes that Ruemmler and Epstein discussed her getting a job at Citadel and that Ruemmler appeared to jest that Epstein might “trade one of your Russians for my comp.” She didn't end up joining the hedge fund. “You know me well,” she wrote to Epstein in 2019, in emails where she said she was meeting John Rogers, who was instrumental in hiring her at Goldman Sachs. 

Most controversially, though, Ruemmler received gifts from Epstein. Bloomberg notes that these included a $9,400 Hermès bag, a $4,200 Fendi fur-trimmed plaid wool coat and a $1,700 Fendi bag. Bloomberg cites emails suggesting that Epstein's office asked Ruemmler whether she wanted a new band for her Apple Watch and she chose a Hermès one. She chose a date for tickets to the book of Mormon when Epstein offered to buy them. 

A Goldman spokesperson told Bloomberg Epstein often gave unsolicited gifts to his contacts. Ruemmler's spokesperson told Bloomberg, “Ms. Ruemmler didn’t ask for anything and didn’t want anything.” 

Like Epstein, Ruemmler didn't come from the upper middle classes. A profile of her from 2018, says she arrived on her first day of law school without ever having a met a lawyer. Success comes from 'working hard, doing good work, and being a good person,' Ruemmler told students at Penn Carey Law School. "Don't be a jerk."

Eight years later, Ruemmler feels unfairly targeted as a result of her appearance in the Epstein files. “It is despicable to single out and attack a highly respected female professional simply because of her benign interactions with Jeffrey Epstein,” her spokesperson told the FT. 

Goldman Sachs staff seem more confused by the matter, though. Speaking to Bloomberg, some executives at the firm oserved that they would be fired for accepting gifts worth only a fraction of those Epstein gave Ruemmler before she joined. Their confusion is amplified by the fact that Ruemmler now oversees Goldman's compliance policies governing the receipt of such presents.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Ruemmler didn't respond to a request to comment.

Separately, the Times has been speaking to Coimbatore Sundararajan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat), the CEO of Barclays. 

Since his diagnosis with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2022, Venkat says he takes more care of himself. He now lies in until 5am and goes to bed at 10pm. “I used to be one of these people, you know, starting very early in the morning, staying very late, sort of running myself fully … [Now] I spend a little more time on my health and exercise and so on," he reveals.

Meanwhile

Epstein spent five years at Bear Stearns and built his career off the back of that initial contacts book. (The Times) 

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America boosted bonus pools by 10%. (Bloomberg) 

BNP Paribas is thinking of raising bonuses by nearly 10%. (Bloomberg) 

Some bankers at UBS had their bonuses increased 20%. Asian bankers were up this amount; US bankers were more likely to be disappointed. (Bloomberg) 

Lloyds wants to expand in foreign exchange hedging and advising on bond sales for large corporations. (Financial Times) 

Barclays is cutting 50 jobs and moving them to India. This includes its internal copywriting team, who will now be based in India and supplement their work with AI. (Telegraph)

Spare a thought for senior bankers Simon Robey and Michael Klein. Both spent the past month working on Evercore's purchase of Rio Tinto, but it fell apart at the last moment. (Bloomberg) 

Some Citi executives have started to communicate with clients that they expect the consent order work to be completed this year. (Reuters) 

Reasons to be a junior lawyer: "I can buy a house in London at 29, while my uni mates are in flatshares of 6." (RollonFriday) 

Deloitte's junior auditors will now sit 12 of 14 ACA exams in the first year instead of having them spread over three years. This is being made possible by AI, which is doing repetitive audit tasks. (The Times) 

Brad Karp, the senior lawyer who fought discrimination cases on behalf of banks and who stepped down due to the Epstein files, was tired.“Been working 20 hour days/nights and sick as a dog”, he wrote to Epstein on one occasion. (RollonFriday) 

Life as an academic economist in Paris. The teaching load is 128 hours per year. The annual salary is 25,000 - 40,000 Euros after taxes. (Dauphine) 

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