Jamie Fiore Higgins became one of the few women at the highest ranks of Goldman Sachs. Spurred on by the obligation she felt to her working-class immigrant family, she rose through the ranks and saw it all: out-of-control, lavish parties flowing with never-ending drinks; affairs flouted in the office; rampant drug use; and most pervasively, a discriminatory culture that seemed designed to hold back the few women and people of color employed at the company.

Despite Goldman Sachs having the right talking points and statistics, Fiore Higgins soon realized that these provided a veneer to cover up what she found to be an abusive culture. Her account is one filled with shocking stories of harassment and jaw-dropping tales of exclusionary behavior: when she was told she only got promoted because she is a woman; when her coworkers mooed at her after she pumped for her fourth child, defying the superior who had advised her not to breastfeed; or when a male boss used a racial epithet in front of her, other colleagues, and clients without any repercussions.

b. Goldman Condones the Sexualization of Women and an Uncorrected Culture of Sexual Assault and Harassment. 

Company records indicate that Goldman permits or facilitates a culture where male professionals view women as sexual objects, leading to substantial numbers of incidents of alleged sexual assault and harassment in just the three Class divisions. In complaint files produced for the period 2000-2011, there have been at least 75 such reported incidents. For instance, one male manager took his female employee to an abandoned office floor and propositioned her for sex; he separately called her and said he was masturbating to the sound of her voice. He also insisted that she come to his apartment, where he showed her pictures he had taken of other Goldman female employees in lingerie. 

Another Goldman manager told his female employee that, "with that feisty nature, you would be good in bed." GS0158798. Yet another male Goldman manager told his female employee that he loved her, and repeatedly made sexually suggestive comments and overtures during business trips. See also GS0162302 ("I was talking to this guy who just got promoted to VP . . . I told him about how it made me uncomfortable how the guys were touching me, and he was really supportive and giving me advice on what to do, and the next thing I know, his hand is on my ass, too!"); GS0162142, 160, 171-173, 191 (male vice president massaged female employees' shoulders and asked them out for drinks while on the desk; another male supervisor and vice president allowed client to discuss female subordinate in a sexual manner while female subordinate was on the calls and also discussed performing sexual acts on another female colleague he labelled a lesbian); GS0167579-603 (male manager rated the outfits of female employees on the desk, rubbed the shoulders of female analysts, told a female colleague he is "big down there", and asked if female employee's roommates are "easy fucks"); GS0167542 (male employee showed coworkers a sex tape he made with an unidentified woman and perpetuated rumor that the woman was a female coworker). See also Shaver Decl., Ex. D (Marie Myung-Ok Lee, What It was Like to Be a Woman at Goldman Sachs, The Atlantic, November 26, 2012, www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/11/what-it-was-like-to-be-a-woman-atgoldman-sachs/265572) (describing "memos announcing a new crop of incoming female associates [that] instead of the usual corporate headshot . . . used different semi-nude pictures of Playboy playmates," and a widely-held belief "that it was a professional responsibility for women to wear heels, the higher the better"); id., Ex. I (Daniel Bates, How to Party Like a Goldman Trader, Daily Mail Online, October 18, 2012, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2219662/Inside-bankers-lives-excess-hot-tubs-Goldman-Sachs.html) (describing corporate party in Las Vegas including hot tubs with topless woman).

Even more disturbingly, in the same time period, at least seven women reported criminal sexual assault, attempted rape, or rape by male Goldman employees from the three Class divisions. GS0162409-410 (female employee drugged and raped by male employee after company baseball game); GS0161598-600 (female employee persistently harassed, groped, and propositioned for sex by male manager at Goldman orientation retreat; after being rejected, he followed her into her room, tried to get into her bed, and would not leave her alone until she was able to lock the door); GS0162306 at 313 (after drinks with colleagues, male Vice President took sick female coworker back to her house, followed her into her home, got in her bed, and put her hand on his crotch); GS0158763-764 (male colleague groped female employee during an evening social event, said "I want to fuck you" and put his hand down her pants multiple times to grab her crotch while in front of friends, despite her protestations); GS0162384-385 (Managing Director took his assistant out to dinner, and during the taxi ride back he groped her and put his hand down her blouse); Chen-Oster Decl., ¶ 10 ("I was sexually assaulted by a married male coworker after attending a Goldman dinner to celebrate the promotion of a man in my group to Managing Director."); Shaver Decl., Ex. G (Chris Dolmetsch, Goldman Managing Director to Be Arraigned on Rape Charge, Bloomberg News, September 20, 2013, www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-20/goldman-managing-director-to-be-arraigned-on-rapecharge.html) (Managing Director accused of raping 20-year old woman after meeting her at a nightclub and inviting her to his Hamptons property rented for $33,000 a month).

Unsurprisingly in such a culture, work events are held at strip clubs where the sexualization of women is endorsed and celebrated. See, e.g., Shelley Decl., ¶ 10 ("my male colleagues at Goldman took their clients to strip clubs"); Tischhauser Decl., ¶ 7 ("In my experience, entertaining clients at strip clubs was considered routine for Goldman in the U.S."); GS0158596 (male partner took clients to strip clubs); GS0167724 at 726 (work events took place at restaurant where female servers wear bikini tops); GS0175455 ("traders take clients to Asian massage parlors"); GS0161513 at 518 (email from Vice President to administrative assistant stating as the "subject" of the email, "new place for mmkt [money market] party!!"with the text of the message, "what do you think. . . Penthouse Launches Flagship Club in Manhattan . . . a Manhattan-based, luxury gentlemen's club"); Shaver Decl., Ex. H (Tracy Clark-Flory, Goldman Sachs: When business and strip clubs mix, Salon, Sept. 16, 2010, www.salon.com/2010/09/17/strip_club_business) (strip club marketing manager noting frequent business visits to the club with topless entertainment and an "extremely upscale" steakhouse); id., Ex. E (Patrick McGeehan, Former Trader Sues Goldman, Charging Firing Was Illegal, N.Y. Times, February 09, 2000, www.nytimes.com/2000/02/09/business/former-trader-sues-goldmancharging-firing-was-illegal.html) (describing lawsuit by former trader for Goldman, alleging that he believed that his inter-office, extramarital affair would be accepted by the Firm because the Firm accepted his entertaining clients at strip clubs); id., Ex. F (Mike Taylor, Goldman "Defender" Saw Harassment at Firm: "Deep Doodah", The N.Y. Observer, September 23, 2010, observer.com/2010/09/goldman-defender-saw-harassment-at-firm-deep-doodah) (former Goldman partner acknowledging that her boss engaged in sexual harassment and discrimination and she personally experienced inappropriate behavior, including a Goldman outing to a strip club). In fact, Goldman has such a strong reputation for this kind of behavior that in 2005 the Firm cautioned new associates in their orientation that while clients will ask to go to strip clubs, they should merely not "expense" that entertainment. However, the record above demonstrates that entertaining clients at strip clubs remained unabated, if frequently "off the books."

The head of Wall Street's most prestigious investment bank bragged to the underlings that he was the only one among the group to have received oral sex the previous night, according to a complaint revealed Tuesday by Bloomberg News.

. . .

The alleged remark by Solomon was not the central focus of the lawsuit, which claimed Goldman paid women less than men for doing the same jobs and that the company tolerated crude and vulgar remarks from senior officials.

. . .

"Bloomberg's reporting contains factual errors, and we dispute this story," said Kathy Ruemmler, General Counsel at Goldman. "Anyone who works with David knows his respect for women, and his long record of creating an inclusive and supportive environment for women." 

"Goldman Sachs Gives First-Year Legal Chief $17.5 Million" (Bloomberg Law / March 18, 2022)

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/goldman-sachs-pays-first-year-legal-chief-nearly-12-7-million :

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s legal chief Kathryn Ruemmler received roughly $17.5 million in total compensation after being appointed its top lawyer a year ago, the firm disclosed in a proxy Friday.

Goldman paid Ruemmler $7.9 million in cash last year, including $1.5 million in base salary and a $6.4 million bonus, the proxy showed. Goldman gave her a stock bonus valued at $9.6 million, the firm said in a disclosure separate from its compensation table.

"FINRA Board Appoints Deborah Bailey and Kathryn Ruemmler as Newest Governors" (FINRA News Release / January 8, 2021)  https://www.finra.org/media-center/newsreleases/2021/finra-board-appoints-deborah-bailey-and-kathryn-ruemmler-newest, which states in part that:

Ruemmler is the Global Head of Regulatory Affairs at Goldman Sachs, where she serves on the firmwide Management Committee, is Co-Vice Chair of the Firmwide Reputational Risk Committee and is Co-Chair of the Regulatory Reform Steering Group. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs as a Partner earlier this year, Ruemmler was a Litigation Partner at Latham & Watkins LLP, where she was Global Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations practice. Previously, she served as counsel to President Barack H. Obama and was his longest-serving White House counsel. She also served in the Department of Justice, including as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, Deputy Director of the Enron Task Force, and Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Earlier in her career, Ruemmler served as Associate Counsel to President William J. Clinton. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Washington and a law degree from Georgetown University.

We are grieved by the senseless death of George Floyd and other recent acts of violence against members of the Black and African American communities. We stand together with the FINRA community in our personal commitment to the principle of equal justice under the law and to fight all forms of racism and prejudice.

FINRA's mission is investor protection and market integrity. We support management's determination to further enhance FINRA's long-standing initiatives to pursue that mission with a diverse and inclusive workforce that represents all of society, and to expand our efforts to promote the financial literacy and capability of minority communities in collaboration with the FINRA Foundation. We are committed to continuing to increase the diversity of the FINRA Board of Governors. As a leader in the financial services industry, we also support management's determination to work collaboratively with others to promote greater diversity and inclusion across the industry, so that the industry can better engage traditionally underinvested communities and better represent and serve the needs of all investors.