The blast radius keeps widening.
The Justice Department’s release of over 3 million pages of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents has led to a fresh wave of backlash for people associated with the pedophile financier, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The documents have revealed friendly communications with Epstein, even after his 2008 conviction for sex offenses. Some of the people who’ve experienced fallout exchanged crude messages about women, shared government secrets, or had a more expansive relationship with him than previously known. One high-profile entertainment industry executive said he wanted to see Ghislaine Maxwell in “bondage gear” — well before any public accusation that she facilitated Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.
It’s not the first time the vast trove of documents, broadly known as the Epstein files, has had consequences for his associates. Last fall, the release of tens of thousands of Epstein’s emails by the House Oversight Committee led to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor being stripped of his title as a British royal and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers losing his teaching job at Harvard University and post on OpenAI’s board.
Here are nine people who’ve experienced consequences following the Justice Department’s January 30 data dump. None of the people featured in this story has been accused of participating in Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme.
Kathy Ruemmler
Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer turned in her resignation following weeks of scrutiny over her communications with the convicted sex offender. June 30 will be her last day as the Wall Street bank’s chief legal officer and general counsel, the bank said on Thursday.
The DOJ’s latest tranche of documents showed her offering Epstein advice on his legal troubles, including lawsuits brought by women accusing him of sexual abuse. She gushed over expensive gifts from him, including a $9,350 Hermes handbag, and referred to him in an email as “Uncle Jeffrey.”
She has previously said her relationship with the convicted sex offender was “a professional association” and has expressed “regret” over it. In the statement to Business Insider about her resignation, Ruemmler said it was her duty “to put Goldman Sachs’ interests first.”
Brad Karp
The high-powered corporate lawyer resigned as chairman Paul Weiss, calling reports about his relationship with Epstein a “distraction” for the white-show law firm. He also stepped down from the board of trustees of his alma mater, Union College.
The documents include emails showing he worked with Epstein to surveil a woman in a dispute with one of Karp’s clients. Business Insider has confirmed that the client was billionaire private equity titan Leon Black, who counted Epstein among his advisors.
Karp also visited Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and asked him to help his son get a job with director Woody Allen.
Representatives for Paul Weiss declined to comment beyond their press release announcing Scott Barshay as the law firm’s new chair.
Howard Lutnick
The US Commerce Secretary is facing bipartisan calls from lawmakers to resign after emails show he planned a visit to Epstein’s island with his family in 2012. Lutnick previously said he served ties with Epstein, his former Manhattan neighbor, after first meeting him in 2005.
“My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again,” Lutnick told the New York Post last year.
Lutnick was called by Congress to answer for the discrepancy on Tuesday. He testified that he, his wife, and kids were at the island “for an hour” for lunch. The DOJ’s files show the two men exchanged calls in 2011 and invested in the same company around the time of the island visit.
The White House has stood by Lutnick, with the Commerce Department saying: “Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the next 14 years.”
Steve Tisch
In 2013, Tisch, owner of the New York Giants, exchanged numerous emails with Epstein about women, triggering a review by the National Football League.
The emails show Epstein updating Tisch on the women, including their ages, nationalities, and “working girl” status.
After the emails were made public, he said he regretted associating with Epstein and that the women discussed in the emails were adults.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league will review the communications and weigh whether they violate its personal conduct policies.
Sarah Ferguson
A charity chaired by Ferguson — the ex-wife of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew — shuttered following the Justice Department’s document dump. A spokesperson for the foundation, called Sarah’s Trust, said the decision was made after “months” of discussion.
The records show Ferguson sent warm emails to Epstein in 2009, when he was imprisoned for soliciting sex from a minor. She referred to him as the “brother I have always wished for” and signed off another email with “love you.”
Ferguson previously said she regretted any association with Epstein. Representatives for Ferguson didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Peter Mandelson
Mandelson quit his job as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States, and left the British Labour Party itself, after the Epstein files showed him providing sensitive government information to the convicted sex offender.
The emails, dating back to Mandelson’s time in senior posts under former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, show him informing Epstein about a change in tax rules, the sale of government assets during a UK financial crisis, and a European Union bailout of Greece’s economy. The records also show Epstein sent money to Mandelson’s husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.
The London’s Metropolitan Police said it’s investigating Mandelson over the emails appearing to leak financial information to Epstein.. Mandelson has denied any illegal activity and told The Times of London that his husband accepting the funds from Epstein reflected “a lapse in our collective judgment.”
Morgan McSweeney
McSweeney resigned as the chief of staff for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Mandelson, whom he recommended for the ambassadorship job.
“I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice,” McSweeney said in a statement upon his resignation on Sunday. “In public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient. In the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside.”
Casey Wasserman
Soccer player Abby Wambach and singer Chapell Roan said they were parting ways with Wasserman’s agency.
Wasserman flew on Epstein’s jet with a group of people that included former President Bill Clinton. The files also show Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell exchanging racy and flirtatious emails in 2003, well before police began investigating Epstein, and over a decade before Maxwell’s arrest on sex-trafficking charges in 2020.
“Casey – I will be coming back to NY torn late afternoon,” Maxwell wrote in one email. “I shall be wearing a tight leather flying suit.”
Wasserman said in a statement that he regretted his messages with Maxwell, which took place “long before her horrific crimes came to light” and that he never had any personal or business relationship with Epstein.
Representatives at Wasserman’s eponymous agency didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Peter Attia
The CBS News contributor and longevity expert stepped down as the chief science officer of David Protein, a protein bar brand, and is no longer an adviser to the sleep technology company Eight Sleep.
In the emails from the mid-2010s, Attia gives Epstein health advice that included crude remarks about women. In one email, he said a woman’s genitalia was “low carb.”
In a social media post, he denied involvement in any criminal activity and said the emails were “embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible.”
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