"Two weeks after the U.S. Justice Department's latest batch of 3 million Jeffrey Epstein files revealed the business elite- from Hollywood to New York to Dubai -who were friendly with the late, disgraced financier, the corporate world is still sifting through his murky paper trail. And boards and business leaders are facing tricky questions as they decide how to dole out consequences for executives who were Epstein's close confidantes even after he was convicted of sex crimes in 2008 and registered as a sex offender."
"On Thursday, Goldman Sachs said general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler will leave the bank in June after the documents showed she stayed in close contact with Epstein until 2019, at one point calling him "Uncle Jeffrey" as she thanked him for high-end gifts. And on Friday, Dubai-based logistics group DP World named a new chair and new CEO, signaling the departure of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem whose emails with Epstein included references to sexual experiences."
"But if Ruemmler and Sulayem have faced professional consequences for their association with Epstein, many others have not. The slow, cautious-to-the-point-of-tepid response of the business world to its leaders' chummy correspondence with a known sex offender reveals a confounding aspect of the Epstein saga: The documents released so far don't offer proof that all of his correspondents engaged in criminal behavior."
The U.S. Justice Department released 3 million Epstein files that exposed business elite across industries who were friendly with Epstein. Boards and executives are evaluating consequences for leaders who remained close to Epstein after his 2008 conviction and sex-offender registration. Corporate leaders are asking who knew what and whether conduct was criminal or poor judgment. Some executives have resigned or been removed, including Kathryn Ruemmler at Goldman Sachs and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem at DP World, along with U.K. public-sector departures. Many other associates have not faced consequences because the documents do not prove criminality, creating a gray area for corporate response.
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