Goldman Defense of Lawyer’s Epstein Ties Provokes Unease at Bank

The top partners at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. were expecting to celebrate its soaring stock price and trading bonanza at their annual gathering in Miami this week. Instead, many are girding for a different topic: Kathy Ruemmler’s association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Kathy Ruemmler

Photographer: William B. Plowman/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

Recently released Epstein files show that in the years before Ruemmler became the bank’s general counsel she accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from him. She sometimes called him “Uncle Jeffrey,” described him as like “another older brother” and addressed him in an exchange about sex crimes as “sweetie.” When ...