Casey Wasserman’s job as chair of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee is safe after the LA28 board’s executive committee met Wednesday to discuss her appearance in the recently released government files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Wasserman has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, but documents released by the Justice Department revealed that in 2003 he exchanged flirtatious emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, who years later would be accused of helping Epstein recruit and sexually abuse his victims.
LA28 said that, with the help of an outside law firm, it reviewed Wasserman’s previous conversations with Epstein and Maxwell, with Wasserman’s full cooperation.
“We found that Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what was already publicly documented,” the executive committee said in a statement. “The Board’s Executive Committee has determined that based on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has demonstrated over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and conduct a safe and successful game.”
During a conversation between the two, Wasserman said to Maxwell, “I think about you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather dress?”
There is also an email exchange about massages and in one Maxwell asked if there would be enough fog during an upcoming trip “so that you could swim naked on the beach and no one could see you unless they were close?”
Wasserman replied, “Or something like that.”
In a statement on January 31, Wasserman said, “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,” adding that it occurred “long before her terrible crimes came to light.” He said he “never had any personal or professional relationship” with Epstein.
Last week, the IOC declined to put any additional public pressure on Wasserman to step down.
Wasserman was among a select few in the entertainment industry, including actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker, who accompanied former US President Bill Clinton on Epstein’s jet for a charity trip to Africa in 2002. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times this week, Wasserman said this was the only time he met Epstein.
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted of five counts of sex trafficking and abuse of minors. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being convicted on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Several athletes and musicians – including retired American women’s soccer star Abby Wambach, Grammy-winning singer Chappelle Rhone and indie rock band Beach Bunny – have cut ties with Wasserman’s eponymous sports marketing and talent-management company following the release of government files.
wambach Posted on Instagram She left the Wasserman agency after reading Wasserman’s emails contained in the Epstein files.
“Casey should resign,” Wambach wrote. “He needs to go, so other people like me don’t have to do this.”
Some members of the Los Angeles City Council and the LA County Board of Supervisors have called on Wasserman to step down from his Olympics position.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
