A secretive reputation management company allegedly tried to help restore the image of a top Goldman Sachs executive after her links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein drew public attention.
Senior staff at Terakeet, a firm that specialises in online reputation management, held a meeting in April 2024 to discuss how they could support Goldman Sachs and its general counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, according to a report by The New York Times.
Mac Cummings, Terakeet CEO and co-founder, described Ruemmler as “a friend of mine” and called her the “executive sponsor” of the Goldman Sachs account during the internal discussion, according to an audio recording obtained by the media publication.
He called her “the most accomplished, brilliant lawyer” and even said she could someday become a US Supreme Court judge. Ruemmler previously served as White House counsel under former US President Barack Obama before joining Goldman Sachs.
Cummings reportedly told employees that Ruemmler had “done nothing wrong”. The report said Terakeet then spent nearly 20 months trying to reduce the impact of the negative publicity.
The company allegedly created and published positive online content about Ruemmler. “The goal was that at least 80 percent of the first 30 Google search results would be favorable,” the report added.
At the time, four of the top 20 Google search results for Ruemmler reportedly mentioned Epstein, including her dozens of meetings with him and planning visits to his private Caribbean island.
Although Cummings reportedly believed those reports were exaggerated, Terakeet internally said it was important to improve Ruemmler’s “online narrative.”
So, the company reportedly created a personal website and LinkedIn page for Ruemmler, wrote different versions of her biography and tried placing them on websites linked to institutions such as the University of Washington and the Salzburg Global Seminar. The firm also closely monitored Google search results.
However, the bank preferred using one standard official biography for executives and objected to multiple versions of Ruemmler’s profile appearing online. In addition, the release of new Epstein documents reportedly created more problems for her public image.
The US House Oversight Committee released thousands of Epstein-related documents in November, including emails in which Ruemmler reportedly referred to Epstein as “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey.”
The situation worsened in January when the US Justice Department released 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related files. Ruemmler’s name allegedly appeared in more than 10,000 pages.
According to the report, some of the documents showed Ruemmler discussing trips to France with Epstein and also thanking him for lavish gifts and giving him legal advice.
However, on February 12, Ruemmler announced that she would resign from Goldman Sachs. Her departure is expected to take effect in June.
At present, Ruemmler’s Wikipedia page reportedly appears as the top Google result for her name, with the opening paragraph mentioning that she resigned from Goldman Sachs over her links to Epstein.
