The fallout after the release of millions of documents in late January — related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — continues as job departures, firings and resignations among high-powered business executives, politicians, lawyers, prolific academics and public figures ramp up.

As the files are dissected and studied, high-profile people across Europe, North America and the Middle East have seen consequences for their various relationships with the late financier Epstein.

Find below some of the people who’ve lost their roles or jobs.

High-ranking lawyer to leave Goldman Sachs

A top lawyer at global banking firm Goldman Sachs has announced she will leave her role after appearing in the Epstein files.

Kathy Ruemmler confirmed Thursday that she will exit Goldman Sachs in June after email correspondence revealed a relationship between her and Epstein.

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Speaking to the Financial Times on Thursday, Ruemmler said, “I made the determination that the media attention on me, relating to my prior work as a defence attorney, was becoming a distraction.”

She initially said she would not 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.

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 child sex trafficking offences, the documents show.

Communications include advising Epstein on how to respond to a media request to comment on the alleged special legal treatment he received due to his status and connections.

It also shows she received gifts from Epstein, whom she frequently 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 statement.

His name appears 182 times in the latest tranche of Epstein documents.

While being mentioned in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing, the documents reveal a relationship between Smolin and Epstein, which continued after the former financier’s 2008 sex-trafficking conviction.

The files show correspondence between the two in which they discuss the 2008 economic crisis, and several messages addressed to Epstein remind him to “call Lee Smolin.”

Smolin previously told The Verge that he had not been in contact with Epstein since 2008 and had last seen him at a conference in 2007.

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Email correspondence appears to contradict Smolin’s timeline.

In one email dated Nov. 2, 2010, with the subject line “Hi from Toronto,” Smolin appeared to send a message that simply reads “Dear Jeffrey.” Epstein, in the same chain, replied, “You’re always welcome in ny.”

In a 2009 email to Epstein, who had just been released from jail at the time, Smolin wrote to him saying, “I hear that you are out and living there at home. Hope all is well, would love to see you and catch up at some point.”

Epstein wrote back, offering to fly Smolin and his family to Florida.

“That’s a very nice invitation. Thank you. Let me speak with [his wife’s name] about when would be possible,” he responded.

Their final exchange appears to have been in 2013, according to the files released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dubai Sultan, port CEO, replaced

Dubai Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the head of DP World — one of 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 prominent Emirati businessman, bin Sulayem regularly appears with Dubai’s ruler and has been photographed with President Donald Trump.

Bin Sulayem’s name appears 344 times in the Department of Justice’s Epstein library, mostly in email exchanges between him and Epstein.

“The hands do look like mine,” Epstein wrote back.

The emails also include the men discussing dinner and travel plans, as well as invitations from bin Sulayem to Epstein to various 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 home 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 clarify the situation.

Police also this week questioned Mona Juul, a diplomat who played a role in setting up the back channel between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that led to the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, about her own links with Epstein.

Juul, who is under suspicion of aggravated corruption, has said she did not commit any crime.

The World Economic Forum has also started an independent investigation of its Norwegian CEO, Børge Brende, to clarify his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

In addition, 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 year 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 year 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 former New York City businessman on his 50th birthday.

In the note, Mandelson called Epstein his “best pal.”

Starmer initially showed support for Mandelson after the release 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 people, I took that at face value,” a decision 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 as 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 important 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 in the 2010s according to newly released documents.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is also facing calls to resign after emails showing he planned a visit to Epstein’s island with his family in 2012 surfaced.

Steve Tisch, the owner of the New 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 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 year, a number of charities cut ties with Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of the former 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

Suspected ISIS members from dozens of countries including Canada have been moved out of Syria to prisons in Iraq, an official confirmed on Friday.

Iraq’s judiciary announced that more than 5,700 detainees had been transferred into its custody and that they were citizens of 61 countries, including Canada.

While more than half are Syrians, the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation listed Canada among the “most prominent foreign nationalities.”

The others included citizens of Germany, Russia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, South Africa, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The statement did not specify how many Canadians were sent to Iraq, nor identify them by name. Global Affairs Canada said only that it was monitoring the situation.

But Global News has identified at least five Canadian men who were being held in Syria prior to the transfer, including a self-admitted ISIS sniper from Mississauga, Ont.

Dozens of extremists left Canada to join ISIS. While most were killed, Kurdish fighters took several into custody during the final stages of the conflict in 2019.

The federal government flew the women and children back to Canada in 2022 and 2023, but left the men in the custody of the Kurdish forces.

They were detained in makeshift prisons in northeast Syria, a region that was controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

But last month, the United States began moving the detainees to Iraq as Syrian government forces and jihadist groups began pushing into Kurdish-held areas.

The transfer wound down on Thursday, with almost 6,000 ISIS suspects having been transported across the border to prisons in Iraq.

The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has said they would be investigated and put on trial in Iraq.

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The council said in a statement that it had jurisdiction over all the detainees, “regardless of their nationality or position” in ISIS.

But Iraq also urged other countries to do their part and said it was unacceptable that some countries refused to repatriate their citizens.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged “countries to take responsibility and repatriate their citizens in these facilities to face justice.”

The Canadians captured in Syria included Muhammad Ali, who joined ISIS in 2014 and used social media to incite terrorist attacks in Canada.

In an interview with Global News after he was captured in 2018, the Mississauga, Ont. resident admitted he was part of an ISIS sniper team.

Also held by the Kurds were residents of Edmonton, Windsor and Montreal, as well as Jack Letts, a Briton who has never lived in Canada but obtained citizenship through his father.

A sixth Canadian, Mohammed Khalifa, was taken out of Syria by the United States and flown to Washington, D.C., in 2021 to face trial for terrorism.

The Toronto resident was sentenced to life for making ISIS propaganda videos in which he was shown executing prisoners with a handgun.

Iraq has already put tens of thousands of suspected ISIS members through prosecutions that have been criticized by human rights groups.

Human Rights Watch said the trials relied on confessions, despite torture allegations, and courts paid little heed to each suspect’s role in ISIS.

“Iraq is known for highly expedited proceedings where defendants often had limited or no access to legal counsel, evidence was rarely scrutinized in depth, and verdicts were delivered immediately,” said Queen’s University professor Amarnath Amarasingam. “This has resulted in long prison sentences and even the death penalty.”

“Researchers have warned for years that this may happen eventually if countries didn’t repatriate their citizens from these camps and prisons,” said Amarasingam, a terrorism expert who has studied Canadian ISIS members.

“By leaving Iraq to absorb the legal burden alone, states have outsourced justice to an overwhelmed system. There are now serious concerns about due process and wrongful convictions.”

Asked by Global News about the issue last month, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand did not confirm that Canadians were among those sent to Iraq.

“We are examining the situation and we are in touch with our consular officials at every step of the way,” she said in Ottawa.

Global Affairs Canada similarly would not share any details on Thursday, saying it would not comment for “privacy and security reasons.”

“The safety and security of Canadians always remain the utmost priority for the government of Canada while meeting necessary legal obligations.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A world champion winged suit skydiver has died after his parachute failed to deploy during a jump in the south of France.

Pierre Wolnik, 37, a two-time French freefly world champion, died after jumping from a helicopter in a wingsuit in the Mont Blanc massif region on Saturday.

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After a brief free fall, Wolnik’s parachute did not open, resulting in his death, French outlet Le Figaro reported.

French sporting newspaper Sport Tricolore reported Wolnik’s death on X, describing him as “a world-renowned figure in wingsuit flying.”

Wingsuit flying is an extreme sport in which the diver wears a specialized suit with webbing between the legs and under the arms, allowing the wearer to glide at high speeds and reduce their rate of descent.

His body was found in the village of Les Bossons, in the Chamonix valley. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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The precise cause of the technical failure that led to the parachute failure is under investigation, Le Figaro reported.

The athlete was a member of the French FAI World Championship team and was a world leader in wingsuit skydiving.

Wolnik was active on social media and a professional videographer who often shared footage of his daredevil dives with his Instagram followers.

Following Wolnik’s death, the Fédération Française de Parachutisme wrote in a translated Facebook statement that he would be “remembered as a teammate whose presence will forever be etched in the memories of those around him.”

“Today, the entire skydiving community mourns and pays tribute to a young man known for his talent and human qualities,” it continued.

“On behalf of the whole of the federation, we send our sincere condolences to his family, his relatives, as well as his teammates, his coach and all the French teams who had the chance to be with him,” the statement concluded.

In a separate post, the federation’s president, Yves-Marie Guillaud, honoured Wolnik for his contribution to the sport.

“The entire sport parachuting community mourns a talented young man with such a friendly smile,” he wrote on Facebook, according to Le Parisien. “May the memory of this exceptional parachutist fill our hearts.”

In October, Wolnik shared a video of himself and a fellow diver hovering above a vast mountain range.

“It seems that too many of us take this great mystery of life for granted to a point that they don’t even question the nature of the experience until the very end of it,” the caption reads.

According to Red Bull, wingsuit divers fly at speeds up to 250 km/h. Pilots must have a wealth of skydiving experience before attempting a dive. They often will have completed between 200 and 500 jumps before using a wingsuit.

The first recorded wingsuit jump ended similarly to Wolnik’s. It took place in Paris in 1912 when Franz Reichelt, an Austrian tailor, jumped from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. His self-designed suit failed, and Reichelt fell 187 feet to his death.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.