The night Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, he called three people. One of them was Kathryn Ruemmler .

A handwritten set of notes from law enforcement released by the Justice Department lists a call to Ruemmler’s cellphone that was placed at 7:15 p.m. The notes, jotted on blank pages, also include comments Epstein made inside the FBI vehicle and while in custody, after he was picked up at Teterboro Airport.

“Oh this is bad,” they quote him saying. “This is really bad.”

The convicted sex offender called his two lawyers, the notes said, and Ruemmler, who at the time was a criminal defense lawyer. After months of stories and allegations of widespread abuse and sex crimes and even after his arrest, Epstein was turning to Ruemmler.

The Justice Department’s extensive Epstein document releases continue to show in new ways that he had a close relationship with Ruemmler before he died in jail in August 2019.

Ruemmler, who says she never represented Epstein, is now the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and a key adviser to the bank’s chief executive, David Solomon .

She has said the two had only a professional relationship centered on her other clients. She has said Epstein “also informally reached out to me for advice from time to time just as he did with numerous other prominent lawyers throughout the country.” She has said she regrets ever knowing him.

“These documents are consistent with what Ms. Ruemmler has repeatedly said: She knew Epstein when she was a criminal defense attorney and shared a client with him,” her spokeswoman, Jennifer Connelly, said in a statement. “She was friendly with him in that context. She had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part.”

Connelly said the July 6 call was brief and Ruemmler took no action afterward.

Epstein showered her with gifts, on her birthday and throughout the years, from luxury handbags to $10,000 in Bergdorf Goodman gift cards, and in 2019 listed her name in the notes of a wire transfer payment to a private jet company for more than $50,000, the documents show. Her spokeswoman said Ruemmler didn’t accept the private jet gift.

She consulted with Epstein while exploring potential jobs with Google , Facebook and Citadel , before she ultimately landed at Goldman.

“You know me well,” she wrote to Epstein in March 2019, in an email chain where she revealed that she was meeting one of Goldman’s most powerful executives, John Rogers , for breakfast.

Epstein’s life started to unravel in late 2018 when a series in the Miami Herald renewed the public’s interest in the allegations that Epstein had abused young women and girls, ultimately leading to his arrest. Ruemmler stood by Epstein and discussed his legal and media strategies, the documents show.

Goldman, which has supported Ruemmler, said its prior comments stood and declined to offer additional comment on Friday. The bank has said she is an excellent general counsel and has the support of its entire leadership team.

The extent of Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein had already drawn scrutiny inside Goldman Sachs before the most recent batch of Justice Department disclosures. Rogers told a few close associates he was formulating a contingency plan in which she would leave later this year, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Rogers at the time said in a statement, “That is completely untrue.”

Help with a relationship

At the time of her Epstein interactions, Ruemmler was a white-collar defense lawyer at Latham & Watkins and a highly-sought legal mind. As a prosecutor, she had helped try the Enron executives, winning her Washington notice and landing her in the White House as President Barack Obama’s counsel.

Around the time she left the White House in 2014, Reid Weingarten, a lawyer at Steptoe, helped establish Ruemmler’s connection with Epstein, the Journal has reported.

In one example, Weingarten had represented the Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild Group before transferring the client to Ruemmler; Epstein was seen as a gatekeeper of the account. Ruemmler took on Rothschild as a Latham client, representing it in a U.S. regulatory matter. Latham has said Epstein wasn’t one of the firm’s clients.

In 2015, Ruemmler received an email from Weingarten’s wife who wrote that she knew that Ruemmler had been in a romantic relationship with her husband. She told Ruemmler to “stay away.”

A few days later, Ruemmler received another email from Weingarten’s wife that began with “I certainly do hope that this time, [you] understand the finality of your ‘relationship’ with my husband.” Ruemmler forwarded the email to Epstein , saying “I have reread this 10 times.”

Ruemmler and Weingarten had been in a yearslong romantic relationship, people familiar with the matter confirmed.

Weingarten went on to become one of the lawyers who represented Epstein in his 2019 criminal case.

Discussing his case

At times, Ruemmler and Epstein emailed about his legal issues and how to handle media coverage pertaining to his alleged crimes, according to the Justice Department documents.

In February 2019, Epstein sent Ruemmler and lawyer Brad Karp an email on his legal plans and his hope that his plea agreement would stand. He said his team was hoping to get a letter from the Justice Department “stating that they will keep their promises…but we should be prepared to intervene.”

Karp earlier this week stepped down from his role as chairman of Paul Weiss, the giant law firm, after pressure from other partners following the fresh disclosures on his relationship with Epstein. A Paul Weiss spokesman previously said Karp regrets his interactions with Epstein.

In March 2019, Ruemmler encouraged Epstein and his lawyers to send a letter to the New York Times editorial board after Epstein sought their guidance defending his past and plea agreement. Epstein wanted his lawyers to deny he had sex parties and to say that girls misrepresented their ages to him. “Highly recommend that we not let perfect be the enemy of the good and get this submitted ASAP,” Ruemmler wrote.

‘Uncle Jeffrey’ and Hermès bags

Epstein often sent her gifts, including for her birthday, even if they were late some years .

Sometimes he sent smaller treats: flowers, spa certificates, a 2018 Valentine’s Day gift of “hair/makeup” services plus a $25 tip charged on his credit card.

In May 2019, he sent a wire payment of $53,750 to a private jet charter company, according to a presentation Deutsche Bank gave to prosecutors of Epstein’s financial activities while he banked with it. The presentation listed Ruemmler as the recipient of the payment and the wire details read: “Reference Kathy Ruemmler.”

“Ms. Ruemmler did not accept the private jet gift you reference,” Connelly, her spokeswoman, said.

In 2016, he tried to give her one million American Express rewards points. When that proved too difficult, his team instead sent $10,000 of Bergdorf Goodman gift cards. In September 2016, he sent a $9,350 Hermès handbag .

In January 2019, Ruemmler received an Apple watch with an Hermès band that Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, wrote Ruemmler wanted.

“Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today! Jeffrey boots, handbag, and watch!” she wrote to Epstein that month .

A few months later, Ruemmler wrote to Epstein : “Btw, I don’t own Louboutins. :-)”

After he replied: “i can rectify that,” Ruemmler emailed that “[they] are uncomfortable.”

“Ms. Ruemmler didn’t ask for anything and didn’t want anything,” her spokeswoman said.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com and Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com