You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Credit...Cait Oppermann for The New York TimesCredit...Cait Oppermann for The New York TimesListen · 13:33 min By Ankush KhardoriMr.

Khardori is a legal analyst and former federal prosecutor who specialized in white-collar crime.June 11, 2026One of the ways Jeffrey Epstein infiltrated America’s elite was by giving important people what they wanted — private plane travel for Bill Clinton, research funding for Harvard professors and donations for the leaders of world-renowned museums.

He drew them into his orbit using the gravitational pull of his wealth and rarefied social network. They reciprocated not necessarily because they liked him, but because it was their business to know people like him.In theory, Kathy Ruemmler — the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and a White House counsel under President Barack Obama — should have been the last person to fall for Mr.

Epstein’s charms. She had prosecuted white-collar criminals, risen to the highest levels of the Justice Department and built a sterling reputation as a defense lawyer in the private sector.The Epstein files, however, paint a damning picture of their relationship.

Among their emails were elliptical messages about “girls” (“careful i will renew an old habit,” he once wrote), sharp criticisms of the lawyers representing Mr. Epstein’s accusers (“Victim’s rights, my ass”) and discordant terms of endearment (“sweetie,” “Uncle Jeffrey”).

He gave her gifts, including luxury handbags and a fur coat, and offered her career advice. At one point Mr. Epstein designated her as the backup executor of his will.Ms. Ruemmler has been criticized by politicians and commentators for consorting with Mr. Epstein, but outside of the media spotlight (and off the record), most white-collar lawyers I know have been unwilling to condemn her.

That is not because they are sympathetic to Mr. Epstein or friendly with Ms. Ruemmler, but because doing business with Mr. Epstein, and people like him, was business as usual for the top ranks of the legal profession. It most likely remains so to this day.I recently sat down with Ms.

Ruemmler for her first in-depth interview since all of this became public. Years earlier, when I was still practicing law, we’d had a call to discuss opportunities in the public sector, and in March, she contacted me to ask if I’d like to hear her side of the Epstein story.

For more than three hours over two interviews, we covered how she came to work with Mr. Epstein despite his questionable past and what she knew, or thought she knew, about the extent of his criminal misconduct.The unsettling truth that emerges from these conversations and my reporting says less about the content of the emails and much more about the culture of big law firms.

She looked past his 2008 conviction — for procuring a minor for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution — in the pursuit of business. Many other prominent criminal defense lawyers and former federal prosecutors would have made the same decision, and that tells you everything you need to know about how unreliable and corroded the legal world has become.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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