The fallout after the discharge of hundreds of thousands of documents in late January — related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — continues as job departures, firings and resignations amongst high-powered business executives, politicians, lawyers, prolific academics and public figures ramp up.
Because the files get dissected and studied, high-profile people across Europe, North America and the Middle East have seen consequences for his or her various relationships with the late financier Epstein.
Find below a number of the individuals who’ve lost their roles or jobs.
High-ranking lawyer to go away Goldman Sachs
A top lawyer at global banking firm Goldman Sachs has announced she is going to leave her role after appearing within the Epstein files.
Kathy Ruemmler confirmed Thursday that she is going to exit Goldman Sachs in June after piece of email revealed a relationship between her and
Chatting with the Financial Times on Thursday, Ruemmler said, “I made the determination that the media attention on me, regarding my prior work as a defence attorney, was becoming a distraction.”
She initially said she wouldn’t resign from the role she has held since 2020, and a Goldman Sachs spokesperson previously stressed that Ruemmler “regrets ever knowing him,” The Guardian reported.
Kathy Ruemmler, Former White House Counsel, appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington, D.C., Sunday, June 29, 2014.
William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Reummler, who worked as White House counsel under former president Barack Obama, had extensive communications with Epstein between 2014 and 2019 after he was convicted of kid sex trafficking offences, the documents show.
Communications include advising Epstein on how one can reply to a media request to comment on the alleged special legal treatment he received attributable to his status and connections.
It also shows she received gifts from Epstein, whom she steadily called “Uncle Jeffrey.”
Waterloo professor ‘pauses’ work over Epstein ties
People in Canada have also been impacted by past connections to Epstein.
Lee Smolin, a revered theoretical physicist and founding member of the University of Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, a world-renowned independent research centre known for its work in quantum theory, has “agreed to pause his working relationship” with the university, the institute confirmed to Global News in a press release.
His name appears 182 times in the newest tranche of Epstein documents.
While being mentioned within the files doesn’t indicate any criminal wrongdoing, the documents reveal a relationship between Smolin and Epstein, which continued after the previous financier’s 2008 sex-trafficking conviction.
The files show correspondence between the 2 wherein they discuss the 2008 economic crisis, and several other messages addressed to Epstein remind him to “call Lee Smolin.”
Smolin previously told The Verge that he had not been in touch with Epstein since 2008 and had last seen him at a conference in 2007.
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Electronic mail appears to contradict Smolin’s timeline.
In a single email dated Nov. 2, 2010, with the topic line “Hi from Toronto,” Smolin appeared to send a message that simply reads “Dear Jeffrey.” Epstein, in the identical chain, replied, “You’re all the time welcome in ny.”
In a 2009 email to Epstein, who had just been released from jail on the time, Smolin wrote to him saying, “I hear that you just are out and living there at home. Hope all is well, would like to see you and catch up in some unspecified time in the future.”
Epstein wrote back, offering to fly Smolin and his family to Florida.
“That’s a really nice invitation. Thanks. Let me speak with [his wife’s name] about when could be possible,” he responded.
Their final exchange appears to have been in 2013, in accordance with the files released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dubai Sultan, port CEO, replaced
Dubai Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the pinnacle of DP World — one in all the world’s largest port operators — was replaced on Friday after documents revealed some lewd exchanges between him and Epstein.
Without mentioning bin Sulayem by name, the Government of Dubai Media Office announced the appointment of Abdulla bin Damithan to the position of Chairman of the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation in his place.
A distinguished Emirati businessman, bin Sulayem often appears with Dubai’s ruler and has been photographed with President Donald Trump.
FILE – Former Nakheel CEO Chris O’Donnell, Donald Trump, and His Excellency Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem arrive at The Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai on August 23, 2008, in Los Angeles, California.
Steve Granitz/WireImage
Bin Sulayem’s name appears 344 times within the Department of Justice’s Epstein library, mostly in email exchanges between him and Epstein.
“The hands do appear like mine,” Epstein wrote back.
The emails also include the boys discussing dinner and travel plans, in addition to invitations from bin Sulayem to Epstein to varied high-profile events.
Former Norwegian Prime Minister charged, others under investigation
Former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been charged with “gross corruption” over his ties to Epstein, police confirmed.
On Wednesday, police searched the house of Jagland, who has also served as foreign minister, leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and head of the Council of Europe, the continent’s highest human rights watchdog.
He was questioned this week, police said, on suspicion of aggravated corruption. Jagland has said he was looking forward to helping to make clear the situation.
Police also this week questioned Mona Juul, a diplomat who played a job in organising the back channel between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that led to the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, about her own links with Epstein.
Norway’s Former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, left, walks together with his lawyer Anders Brosveet because the Norwegian Economic Crime Investigation Service searches his apartment in Oslo, Norway, Thursday Feb. 12, 2026.
Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix via AP
Juul, who’s under suspicion of aggravated corruption, has said she didn’t commit any crime.
The World Economic Forum has also began an independent investigation of its Norwegian CEO, Børge Brende, to make clear his relationship with the convicted sex offender.
As well as, Crown Princess Mette-Marit has apologized for her friendship with Epstein.
Peter Mandelson fired, resigns from the House of Lords, U.K. Labour Party
U.K. Labour peer Peter Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party and the House of Lords earlier this month over his association with Epstein.
U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer also fired him from his role as British ambassador to the U.S. last yr after communications between Mandelson and Epstein were made public in a previous release of Epstein files.
Mandelson said in an interview with British journalist Harry Cole last yr that he “deeply” regretted his friendship with Epstein, after a note he wrote to the convicted sex offender was released by the U.S. House Oversight Committee in a “birthday book” gifted to the previous Recent York City businessman on his fiftieth birthday.
Within the note, Mandelson called Epstein his “best pal.”
A part of Lord Peter Mandelson’s note written to Jeffrey Epstein on his fiftieth birthday.
The U.S. Oversight Committee
Starmer initially showed support for Mandelson after the discharge of the note, stating that his government still had complete confidence in Mandelson and that it was “focused obviously on our relationship with the US, with President Trump coming for an unprecedented second state visit next week.”
Mandelson told Cole that he “accepted assurances that he [Epstein] had given me about his indictment, his original criminal case in Florida. Like very many individuals, I took that at face value,” a choice he said he wished he had never made.
Starmer’s chief of staff also resigned this month over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson because the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s most significant diplomatic post in 2024.
The list keeps growing
Other well-known figures facing growing furor over their ties to Epstein include Brad Karp, who announced he had stepped down as chairman of the law firm Paul Weiss in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday amid allegations of ties to Epstein, and Toronto-born CBS News contributor and chief science officer of the protein brand David Protein, Dr. Peter Attia, who was shown to have kept close relations with Epstein within the 2010s in accordance with newly released documents.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick can be facing calls to resign after emails showing he planned a visit to Epstein’s island together with his family in 2012 surfaced.
Steve Tisch, the owner of the Recent York Giants, was found to have exchanged emails with Epstein in 2013 that included discussions about “working girl” status, prompting a review by the National Football League, ESPN reported.
Last week, pop star Chappell Roan announced she was severing ties along with her talent agency, Wasserman, after emails revealed exchanges between its CEO, Casey Wasserman, Epstein and Maxwell. Several Los Angeles officials have also called for Wasserman to step down as chair of the LA28 Olympics committee, The Guardian reported.
Late last yr, quite a few charities cut ties with Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of the previous Prince Andrew, after British newspapers published an email that she reportedly wrote to the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, describing him as a “supreme friend.’’
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— With files from Reuters and the Associated Press