Bloomberg Podcasts
@bloombergpodcasts·503K subscribers·32.4K videos
Goldman Lawyer, Epstein Conferred on Secret Service Sex Scandal
Posted
February 19, 2026
Views
62,741
Likes
838
Comments
82
Engagement
February 19, 2026
62,741
838
82
1.47%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
9:54Now PlayingKathryn Ruemmler, who resigned last week as the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein about a prostitution scandal that engulfed the US Secret Service during her tenure as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama. In a dozen or so exchanges that were sent months after Ruemmler left her White House position in 2014, she complained to Epstein about “this secret service crap” and forwarded to him a draft email that contained detailed, nonpublic information about the behind-the-scenes role the White House Counsel’s office played in investigating the 2012 prostitution scandal. Although Ruemmler had left the White House, she remained embroiled in the matter as lawmakers and journalists probed her work investigating the scandal. At the time she was under consideration for US attorney general. Bloomberg News Senior Investigative Reporter Jason Leopold joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. He speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Global Counsel, the strategic advisory firm founded by Peter Mandelson, has gone into administration after an exodus of clients over concerns about its links to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Will Wright and Steve Absolom from Interpath were appointed joint administrators on Friday, according to a statement from the restructuring group. Shareholders will be wiped out as redundancy payments are prioritized for the roughly 120 staff due to lose their jobs. The business has ceased to trade.
“We will now undertake a detailed review and explore the best route to realize the Company’s assets,” Wright, Interpath’s chief executive, said.
Mandelson, formerly UK Business Secretary, sold his shares earlier this month to colleague Rebecca Park for a nominal sum of around £100,000 ($134,520), according to one person who asked not to be named.
His co-founder Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, a former Labour Party adviser, resigned as chief executive on the same day in a last-ditch effort to rescue the business from the reputational damage of its Epstein associations. Park became chief executive but it was not enough to stem client departures.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision, under parliamentary pressure, to release Mandelson’s email exchanges with the government posed a further reputational risk to clients, two people with knowledge of the situation said.
The company has lost about half its clients, including blue-chip names like Barclays, GSK and the Premier League, according to the people. The board took the decision to put the firm into administration to release cash to staff rather than run down reserves. It made a profit of about £3 million last year, one of the people said.
Global Counsel’s demise was triggered by the release of emails from the US Department of Justice which showed Mandelson, who was Britain’s ambassador to the US from December 2024 to September last year, shared private government and potentially market-moving information with Epstein.
That has raised questions about misconduct in public office. Mandelson, whose homes have been raided by police, denies wrongdoing. News of the firm’s administration was first reported by the Financial Times.
Global Counsel had been trying to cut all ties with Mandelson since he was appointed ambassador, freezing his shares and ending his dividend and voting rights, but could not find the funds to buy out his 20.7% stake. At the price US advisory business The Messina Group bought a 21% stake in the business in 2024, Mandelson’s shares would have been worth around £6 million.
He got a tiny fraction of that two weeks ago when Park bought him out, finally removing the peer and one-time New Labour grandee from the company. Wegg-Prosser, who was the driving force behind the business for 16 years, is expected to get nothing for his 29% holding.
Some Global Counsel directors are now looking at options to start up a new advisory firm that draws on their experience in banking, finance, technology and regulation, one person said.
--------
Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube
Weekdays 7am-6pm ET
Follow us on X
Subscribe to our Podcasts:
Bloomberg Daybreak
Bloomberg Surveillance
Bloomberg Intelligence
Balance of Power
Bloomberg Businessweek
Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:
Apple CarPlay
Android Auto
Visit our YouTube channels:
Bloomberg Podcasts
Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Originals
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
