• The Justice Department’s Epstein files have a wide blast radius.
• Goldman’s top lawyer resigned, marking the highest-profile fallout over the most recent DOJ release.
• Here are the people dealing with consequences over the DOJ’s January 30 Epstein files.

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. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers took a leave from his teaching duties at Harvard University while the school investigates; he also resigned from OpenAI’s board.

Here are 10 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.

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.”

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.

Lawmakers asked Lutnick about the discrepancy on Tuesday at a prescheduled Senate hearing over broadband. 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.

Casey Wasserman

Casey Wasserman announced on February 13 that he is selling his talent agency after his name appeared in the Epstein files, sparking a growing fallout.

Soccer player Abby Wambach and singer Chapell Roan earlier 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.

Wasserman announced his intentions to sell his agency in a memo to staffers, which the agency shared with Business Insider.

“I’m deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to the clients and partners we represent so vigorously and care so deeply about,” Wasserman wrote. “The pain experienced by the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell is unimaginable – and I’m glad, as I’m sure you all are, that those who helped them commit their crimes are rightly being held accountable.”

Wasserman wrote that he had “become a distraction.”

“That is why I have begun the process of selling the company, an effort that is already underway. During this time, Mike Watts will assume day-to-day control of the business while I devote my full attention to delivering Los Angeles an Olympic Games in 2028 that is worthy of this outstanding city,” he wrote.

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.

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.”

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem was replaced as chairman and CEO of Dubai-based logistics firm DP World on February 13, after emails between the Emirati executive and Epstein were published by the Justice Department.

DP World, which is owned by Dubai’s royal family, is one of the world’s largest logistics companies and runs Jebel Ali, the largest port in the Middle East.

The company did not mention bin Sulaymen in its statement announcing a leadership transition, but said that Essa Kazim and Yuvraj Narayan would take on his roles as chairman and CEO, respectively.

Emails published by the Justice Department show that Epstein referred to bin Sulayem as his “close personal friend” in a 2010 email. In an email to Epstein in 2015, bin Sulayem said that a girl he met “two years ago” who went to the American University in Dubai was “the best sex I ever had amazing body.”

Representatives at DP World did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

• My fiancée said yes when I first proposed, but I still asked again about two years later.
• The second engagement was magical — we’d eliminated stressors from the first, and I felt healthier.
• Proposing twice gave me a way to make memories and remind my partner I’m excited to marry her.

I love my fiancée so much that I proposed to her twice.

It wasn’t because I didn’t believe my lover — who is admittedly far out of my league — the first time she said yes, nor was it my pesky perfectionism rearing its demanding head because not every detail went according to plan.

Rather, certain aspects of our engagement didn’t quite meet our expectations.

There are a lot of things my fiancée and I fondly reflect on when we talk about the day we got engaged — the location in her hometown, New York City; the perfect fit of her rose-gold ring from a nearby jeweler; the violinist who flawlessly played her favorite songs.

However, at the same time, it felt sabotaged by some people in our lives who were emotionally standing in our way instead of celebrating us. I was also at the pinnacle of my unhealthiest self, both mentally and physically.

Seeing the pain behind my eyes while looking at the photographs from that otherwise special day eventually became too much to bear.

As the weeks passed, I kept feeling that we deserved another special day, one completely focused on our love, without a damper from self-consciousness or unsupportive connections.

So, I planned a second proposal about two years after the first.

This time around, the proposal day was even more magical

I felt inspired as I planned another proposal to my fiancée.

In the two or so years since the first engagement, we’d eliminated a lot of the stressors that had been holding us back. For one, I’d lost a significant amount of weight and was mentally in a much better place.

Now, I had a chance to profess my undying love for the woman of my dreams again, this time unbothered by others’ opinions and with the renewed confidence that comes with drastically improved health.

Instead of heading back to NYC, I set my sights on proposing during the Disneyland trip we’d been planning.

She had no idea what was to come as we drove to Anaheim, California, with a bubbly Disney playlist serving as the soundtrack to our adventure.

Within the magical confines of Main Street, USA, I got down on one knee and renewed my commitment to the same loving promises I shared the first time around.

I expressed my excitement for our coming marriage, and once more promised her forever. Again, she said yes.

Instead of buying another engagement ring for the occasion, I surprised her with a piece of jewelry that matched the ring she already had.

Then, we headed to the Plaza Inn for a vegan meal surrounded by many of my fiancée’s favorite Disney characters. It felt magical.

A proposal doesn’t need to be a disaster to get a do-over

A second proposal wasn’t necessary, but it was worth it in every way to see the bliss on my fiancée’s face as we created another beautiful moment together.

Now, we have even more wonderful memories to reflect on, and the best part is, the day was entirely about us and our love.

Truthfully, I recommend a second proposal to anyone who felt their first attempt wasn’t as magical as they deserved.

Whether you lost the ring, forgot to say the best parts of your speech, or just had an even better idea, a second proposal could show your lover that you’re recommitting to them in a romantic and innovative way.

Maybe it’s unconventional, but we live in a time when breaking free from tradition is becoming the norm, whether it’s as simple as living together before marriage or as milquetoast as having food trucks at a wedding.

So why not propose to the love of your life a second time? It’s a way to remind them how much you want to marry them — and it could be the start of another great chapter.

• My sister and I planned our father’s 90th birthday party for months, originally as a surprise.
• He had a heart attack two weeks beforehand, and we wondered if we should cancel the celebration.
• We went ahead with the event after consulting with him and his medical team. It gave Dad such joy.

My father has always been a sociable person who loves nothing better than chatting with relatives, friends, and ex-colleagues.

So it seemed like a fun idea to throw him a surprise party for his milestone 90th birthday at a cricket club in the English town where I grew up.

Our intention was “go big or go home,” and my sister, Alison, and I asked dozens of people to join the celebration.

We decided on a newspaper theme because Dad was the former editor in chief of a local newspaper. I spent hours designing the invitation, emphasizing that the event was top secret, and using the font of an old-fashioned typewriter.

The party was organized with military precision

Mom was also kept in the dark because we wanted it to be a surprise for her, too.

The guest list grew by the day as we contacted people from every part of Dad’s life, including his sister-in-law, cousin, nieces, nephews, and neighbors.

Most of the attendees were journalists who’d worked with him during his seven decades in print. We imagined his delight when he met them again.

My sister and I planned the party with military precision from our homes on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

We bought runners for the tables, framed a huge welcome poster, made bunting, and ordered a massive cake that looked like the front page of Dad’s beloved paper.

Then, two weeks before the party, Dad had a cardiac arrest. He’d shown signs of slowing down over the previous few months, but it was a terrible shock.

Thankfully, the heart attack was relatively mild — but it was enough to keep him in the hospital, followed by a rehab facility for the next seven days.

Mom and Ali stayed at his bedside, while I made concerned calls from the US. It was horrible to live so far away while my family was in need.

The worry was bad enough, but I admit it was compounded by the fact that we’d organized the birthday party. Dad’s health was the absolute priority, but people had been looking forward to the occasion and booked train tickets and hotels.

Dad could have made a virtual appearance

I felt selfish for having those thoughts, but couldn’t bring myself to cancel the celebration quite yet. I consulted with Ali, who agreed we should reassess in a few days’ time.

While Dad quickly showed signs of improvement, we faced a dilemma. Should we do the “sensible thing” and call off the party? Perhaps there was a compromise. What if the event went ahead in Dad’s honor, whether he attended or not?

He was as generous as he was sociable, and wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be disappointed or sad. Besides, he’d get a kick out of all the tributes to him.

We sent an email to tell the guests what had happened. We said we understood if they wanted to decline, but hoped they wouldn’t. Dad could even make a virtual appearance on a giant TV screen, we said.

Most people thought it would be nice to get together for a reunion and celebrate Dad. If they couldn’t raise a glass and appreciate him together, then when could they?

To our relief, Dad rallied over the following week. He returned from the hospital and became quite jovial again. My husband and I flew to England as planned, and he was pleased to see us.

Nevertheless, a big question mark remained over the party. Dad’s medical team was impressed by his continued recovery, and Ali sought their advice. She wanted to know whether it was safe for him to attend. They said it would boost his morale and give him something to look forward to.

Dad delivered a speech himself

Obviously, we no longer kept the lunch a surprise and asked Dad for his opinion. There was no pressure, we said, but if the thought of a celebration appealed to him, we’d do our best to get him there.

His face lit up. “I can’t wait to see everyone,” he said.

We left it until the morning itself for him to finally decide. If he felt up to coming, great. If not, that would be fine. It didn’t really matter because he’d be there in spirit.

Still, proud and determined, Dad made it in person. He shook hands with everyone in the room and laughed at the speeches. He even gave one himself.

The party was a roaring success. Ali and I agreed that we’d done the right thing. We hadn’t seen Dad so happy in years.

• My grandparents have been married for 54 years, and I’ve enjoyed learning from their relationship.
• They’ve taught me how to find joy and meaning in life’s small, everyday moments.
• Now, I look for a steady love anchored by acts of kindness and gentle affection.

My grandparents, whom I call Papa and GG, have been together since they were teenagers and married for 54 years.

As I’ve grown up, I’ve realized the secret to their lasting love hasn’t been perfection or grand gestures. Instead, it’s in finding joy and meaning in life’s small, everyday moments.

Their marriage has taught me how powerful a gentle, consistent love can be, and how beautifully it can shape everything around it.

Here are three of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from them that I hope to bring into my own relationships.

To maintain the “spark,” nurture curiosity

Whether it’s by going on a spontaneous camping trip or navigating retirement together, my grandparents delight in discovering new things about each other.

Both avid readers, they often will sit beneath their orange tree and share quotes from their books. After long Sunday walks through the park, they also like to continue their running card game of gin rummy, laughter, and nostalgic stories tumbling between them.

Even after decades together, they also eat dinner with each other nearly every night, eager to unravel each other’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Find creative, consistent ways to express your love

My grandparents have found a variety of ways to show each other they care.

Every morning, for example, my Papa clips the “Love Is…” comic strip from the newspaper and places it on the kitchen counter for GG. He also writes poems, scribbled on notepads, painted on rocks, or sent as random texts throughout the day.

Meanwhile, GG often sends photos of heart-shaped stones or leaves she finds on her walks, and they both leave handwritten notes in each other’s suitcases when they travel.

Physical affection anchors it all, though. There’s rarely ever a moment when they aren’t holding hands or resting a head on a shoulder. They often seem to do it without even realizing, as though one another is as constant and grounding as gravity.

Remember to prioritize your own happiness, too

In my opinion, one of the reasons their relationship still feels so alive is because they never stopped making room for their individual interests.

GG started playing mahjong in retirement and now competes in tournaments, and Papa likes to play golf around the world.

Instead of resenting or fearing change, they celebrate each other’s passions, and watching each other reinvent themselves sustains their mutual excitement.

The common thread is joy

These days, it can be hard to sift through the barrage of conflicting advice on how to find and cultivate long-lasting love.

Still, witnessing my grandparents build a life out of tiny kindnesses — notes slipped into suitcases, breakfast cartoons, and shared laughter — has shown me the recipe is simpler than we think.

I see how extraordinary it is to share life’s simplest joys, to choose a partner who is real, steady, and kind. That level of devotion is an everyday miracle, and I try to weave those threads into my own relationships.

I send handwritten letters back and forth with my friends and family, and my boyfriend and I collect concert tickets, printed menus, and postcards from trips and dates we’ve experienced.

These items are arranged in a collage in my apartment, ink-stained and wrinkled, but tangible proof of the love my grandparents have taught me to sow.

• Meta denies plans for new performance-based layoffs amid online speculation.
• Meta previously considered annual job cuts based on performance to manage low performers.
• Meta recently cut 10% of its Reality Labs division, affecting over 1,000 employees.

Meta says it will not have a fresh round of performance-based layoffs, even as a smattering of online chatter has raised questions about whether the social media giant will quietly restart its performance-driven purge.

“These are individual cases not related to any company wide initiatives,” a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider when asked about a recent restructuring. “For example we are not doing any 5% low performers like we did last year.”

That’s a notable shift in tone from early 2025, when Business Insider reported that an internal FAQ circulating at Meta suggested performance-based job cuts could become an annual practice, with the company saying it “may use future performance cycles” to move out its lowest performers. Early last year, Meta cut 5% of its workforce, saying it was focusing on its lowest performers.

The clarification also comes as Meta continues to reshape other parts of the business. Last month, the company cut about 10% of its Reality Labs division, a move that affected over 1,000 employees.

Have a tip? Contact Pranav Dixit via email at pranavdixit@protonmail.com or Signal at 1-408-905-9124. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.

• The US Army is working on an artificial intelligence system to help process more data than humans could.
• The AI is fast, but it also remembers the context and connections humans might forget or miss.
• Soldiers are continuing to develop the AI but have seen success with it so far.

Army leaders say the modern battlefield is so saturated with sensors and networked weapons generating more data than soldiers can realistically process on their own that artificial intelligence is needed to meaningfully sort it all.

For years, the Army’s focus was on fielding more sensors for battlefield information and awareness, but now the service is also having to think about information overload and managing the massive amounts of data coming in.

During a recent US Army and NATO exercise in Europe, troops used a homegrown AI system to consume and sort data. The value wasn’t strictly that the AI could do it faster but rather that it could remember context and patterns that humans couldn’t.

The case from the Dynamic Front exercise is another example of how the US military is increasingly implementing AI and automation into everything from enemy attack simulations to paperwork.

“The modern battlefield, what we’re already seeing across the globe, it is swimming in sensors, and we are drowning in data,” Col. Jeff Pickler, the Army 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force commander, said at a media roundtable on Dynamic Front.

There aren’t enough people to decipher all the available information, he said. “They will never be able to fully process all of that.”

The software aimed at addressing that problem remains in beta testing. In the next iteration of Dynamic Front — which will merge with another exercise, Arcane Front, to pair technology experimentation with theater-level combat rehearsals — Army leaders say they intend to test the AI at a larger scale.

“If we’re looking at a target set in the European theater where we think we’re going to need to process upwards of 1,500 targets a day, that’s beyond the human scope,” Pickler said. “The answer to the equation there is in AI and automations.”

During a potential large-scale conflict in Europe, AI could assist in locating and assessing those targets.

The system can do this quickly, but the speed isn’t the main benefit. AI can remember patterns that humans might forget or not even notice. Pickler gave an example of AI realizing that unrelated shipping reports, a local power outage, and a fertilizer delivery together might suggest missile fueling activity.

“So the difference isn’t seconds versus minutes — it’s minutes instead of months. Not because the machine scans quickly, but because it keeps context across sources that humans can’t hold in memory,” Pickler said after the roundtable.

“It doesn’t replace analysts by reading faster,” he said, “it replaces the weeks analysts spend reconnecting information spread across thousands of reports.”

In a conflict scenario, that could mean analysts reach a clearer picture of the battlefield faster. Correlations between data gathered from different sensors could surface more quickly. If an adversary were fueling, arming, or moving weapons in ways that were not immediately obvious, AI could help flag those links.

Humans, though, would still decide how to respond.

Soldiers have seen success with iterating on the current AI model, the Army said. It’s been retooled during testing, and humans remain in the loop, reviewing outputs at multiple stages.

The goal is to continue increasing the overlap the model would have with human-produced information. In a targeting example, a milestone would be if AI achieved 90 to 95% agreement with humans on 100 target sets.

The Army’s push for AI and automation is also driving the development of its Next Generation Command and Control software, a priority initiative.

The technology being developed by vendor teams including Anduril, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin uses AI and machine learning to provide commanders and soldiers with real-time data on ammunition levels, maintenance needs, intelligence feeds, targeting, and simulated enemy attacks.

But AI is also changing other aspects of how the Army works. Autonomous features in drones, weapons, and targeting might be at the forefront, but behind the scenes, personnel are using new tools, redesigned workflows, and data integration for recruiting, maintenance, and inventors. These are manual tasks that the service believes can be improved with AI.