{"id":583234,"date":"2026-02-11T22:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/583234\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:36:13","slug":"la28-olympics-committee-backs-embatted-casey-wasserman-over-epte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/583234\/","title":{"rendered":"LA28 Olympics Committee backs embatted Casey Wasserman over Epte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Casey Wasserman faces growing fallout over his past<\/a> ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the leaders of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics announced Wednesday that they had reviewed the sports mogul\u2019s past conduct and determined that, based on the facts and his \u201cstrong leadership\u201d of the Games, he should continue to serve as chair of LA28.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found Mr. Wasserman\u2019s relationship<\/a> with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,\u201d the Executive Committee of the Board said in a statement after meeting Wednesday and hiring outside counsel to review his conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-three years ago, before Mr. Wasserman or the public knew of Epstein and Maxwell\u2019s deplorable crimes, Mr. Wasserman and his then-wife flew on a humanitarian mission to Africa on Epstein\u2019s plane at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation,\u201d the committee said. \u201cThis was his single interaction with Epstein. Shortly after, he traded the publicly-known emails with Maxwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Executive Committee of the Board has determined that based on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has exhibited over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The LA28 executive committee \u2014 a subset of its broader 35-member board \u2014 said it took \u201callegations of misconduct seriously.\u201d It met Wednesday after hiring outside counsel at O\u2019Melveny & Myers LLP to assist reviewing Wasserman\u2019s past interactions with Epstein and Maxwell. Wasserman, it said, fully cooperated with the review.<\/p>\n

LA\u2019s Olympic leaders have yet to reveal who is on the committee that made the decision to back Wasserman. <\/p>\n

When asked by The Times who serves on the LA28 executive committee, which according to recent tax documents \u201cis delegated all the power and authority of the board,\u201d an LA28 spokesperson did not respond. <\/p>\n

A representative for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said the mayor\u2019s appointees on the executive committee include entertainment attorney Matt Johnson, real estate developer Jaime Lee and union leader Yvonne Wheeler.<\/p>\n

On its website, LA28 lists all the volunteers who serve on its larger 35-member board: heavyweights in the worlds of athletics, business, entertainment and politics, such as actor Jessica Alba, Lakers Minority owner Jeanie Buss, former movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who serves on a city committee overseeing the Olympics, was quick to push back on the executive committee\u2019s decision. Rodriguez was one of a handful of city council members who last week called for Wasserman to resign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Los Angeles deserve leadership that understands the gravity of these revelations,\u201d Rodriguez said in a statement. \u201cAt a moment when public trust is already shaken, doubling down with defensiveness only deepens the concern Angelenos have about accountability at LA28.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Sasha Ren\u00e9e P\u00e9rez, a Democrat representing Pasadena, also called on Wasserman to resign after LA28 issued their statement. P\u00e9rez, whose district will host Olympics events, said Wasserman\u2019s association with Maxwell had created \u201cinternational distraction that could easily damage the success of the LA28 Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, Bass has declined to weigh in on Wasserman\u2019s fate. \u201cUltimately,\u201d she said last week, \u201cany decision on the LA28 leadership must be made by the LA28 Board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last few days, a stream of high-profile clients from singer-songwriter Chappell Roan<\/a> to country music star Orville Peck have announced that they are breaking away from Wasserman\u2019s talent agency after he appeared in the latest batch of the Epstein files<\/a> released by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning, retired U.S. women\u2019s soccer player and Olympic athlete Abby Wambach announced<\/a> that she, too, was leaving the Wasserman agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what I know, and I am following my gut and my values,\u201d Wambach wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cI will not participate in any business arrangement under his leadership \u2026 He should leave, so more people like me don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wasserman, 51, has not been linked to any of Epstein\u2019s wrongdoings or accused of any crimes. The CEO of the Wasserman sports marketing firm traveled to Africa with former President Bill Clinton on Epstein\u2019s private jet in 2002, when he was 28 years old. After the trip, he exchanged a flurry of salacious emails with Maxwell, who had also traveled to Africa with Epstein and Clinton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are you, I miss you,\u201d Wasserman wrote on April 1, 2003. \u201cI will be in nyc for 4 days starting april 22 … can we book that massage now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUmm \u2014 all that rubbing \u2014 are you sure you can take it?\u201d Maxwell wrote on April 2. \u201cThe thought frankly is leaving me a little breathless. There are a few spots that apparently drive a man wild \u2014 I suppose I could practise them on you and you could let me know if they work or not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wasserman boarded Epstein\u2019s jet three years before the family of a 14-year-old girl in Palm Beach, Fla., reported she was molested by Epstein, triggering a decades-long investigation that resulted in Epstein\u2019s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution and 2019 arrest<\/a> for sex trafficking underage girls.<\/p>\n

Maxwell, the daughter of British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell and a longtime companion of Epstein, was sentenced to 20 years in prison<\/a> in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Times on Sunday, Wasserman said the Africa trip was the only time he met Epstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing that trip, where I never witnessed anything inappropriate, I did not speak to, see him or communicate with him ever again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After the emails were released Jan. 30, Olympic leaders and the LA28 board<\/a> indicated they continued to back him as a stream of L.A. officials demanded he step down<\/a> from the organizing committee of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n

Wasserman<\/a>\u2019s agency still represents a diverse range of A-list talent from star Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to musicians such as Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, and Geese. But in recent days he has dropped out of a string of public events in Los Angeles as he manages the fallout.<\/p>\n

The well-connected sports executive was billed as headlining Telemundo<\/a>\u2019s Playmakers Thursday event in L.A., alongside NFL Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, Casey\u2019s office informed us he was no longer available to join us at The Playmakers event,\u201d a spokesperson for Telemundo told The Times.<\/p>\n

Several LA28 Olympic board members are in Milan for the Olympics, as is a local delegation from the Los Angeles area. Former L.A. City Councilmember and Assemblymember Paul Krekorian, who is leading the Olympics planning for L.A., is also in Italy.<\/p>\n

When asked Tuesday whether Wasserman should step down, California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that he hadn\u2019t had a chance to talk to Wasserman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking forward to doing that,\u201d Newsom said, adding that he would have a \u201cstronger opinion\u201d after that meeting.<\/p>\n