Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday said she believed the founder of one of the most prestigious talent agencies in the world should step aside from overseeing the 2028 Olympics after his name appeared in the Epstein files.
Over two decades ago, Casey Wasserman sent flirtatious emails to Jeffrey Epstein’s close friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, as detailed in files the Department of Justice released last month. The Los Angeles entertainment mogul said last week he planned to sell his renowned company after he was on the receiving end of backlash over the emails, with a series of top artists cutting ties to Wasserman Agency.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics 35-member committee has stood by Wasserman. But Bass said this week that “my opinion is that he should step down.”
“That’s not the opinion of the board,” she told the Los Angeles Times, adding that “we need to look at the leadership” of LA28 and that her job is to make sure that the city is “completely prepared” for the games.
Wasserman sent the emails to Maxwell years before her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking and before authorities first began looking into concerns Epstein was connected to illicit sexual activity in 2005. Though he stepped down from his talent empire, Wasserman has maintained he never had a relationship with Epstein and that his connection to Maxwell was already publicly documented long before the latest government files were released on Jan. 30.
“Twenty-three years ago, before Mr. Wasserman or the public knew of Epstein and Maxwell’s deplorable crimes, Mr. Wasserman and his then-wife flew on a humanitarian mission to Africa on Epstein’s plane at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation. This was his single interaction with Epstein. Shortly after, he traded the publicly-known emails with Maxwell,” the LA Olympics board said in a statement defending Wasserman, released last week.
“The [LA28] 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,” the statement continued.
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In one of the emails to Maxwell, Wasserman wrote, “I think of you all the time…So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
He is one of scores of leading figures named in the Epstein files, including former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump, Victoria’s Secret’s Les Wexner, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Harvard academia, distinguished scientists such as physicist Stephen Hawking, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
