Pressure is mounting on Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games organizing team, after the city’s mayor urged him to reveal his ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend.
LA Mayor Karen Bass told CNN late Monday that “my opinion is that he should resign,” despite Wasserman last week receiving support from the LA 2028 organizing board to stay.
The issue became a distraction for the International Olympic Committee this month as Wasserman’s flirtatious 2003 emails with Ghislaine Maxwell were published in a disclosure of US government files, days before the Winter Games opened in Milan Cortina.
The IOC had consistently rejected questions about Wasserman in Milan, saying it was a matter for the LA28 board, although the language changed slightly on Tuesday.
“I understand that there are many discussions going on at the moment, but I will not comment further,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at the Olympic organization’s daily press conference in Milan on Tuesday.
“This is clearly a matter for the LA28 board which is still at this stage,” Adams said.
Mayor Bass noted of Wasserman that “I can’t fire him” in her interview with CNN Dana Bash, but publicly stated that she believed he should go.
Wasserman looks even more embattled since the entertainment and sports agency he founded and which bears his name has lost clients, including pop star Chappell Roan and former football star Abby Wambach, following the release of the emails. He is now in the process of selling the agency.
The investigation into Wasserman has escalated despite the fact that the LA Olympics board last week backed him to stay based on a review, with which he cooperated, by outside legal counsel of his dealings with Epstein and Maxwell.
“I think that decision was unfortunate. I don’t support the decision. I do think we have to look at the leadership,” Bass said. “However, it is my job as Mayor of Los Angeles to ensure that our city is fully prepared for the greatest Olympic Games ever held in Olympic history.”
California Mayor and Governor Gavin Newsom are playing a key role in the success of the LA Olympic and Paralympic Games by ensuring all levels of government support the complex logistical challenges that will take over the city in July and August 2028.
Wasserman has been a driving force behind the LA Olympics since the bid was launched in 2015. Questions have been raised about his status since he arrived in Milan two weeks ago to meet IOC members and attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Games.
The organizing team from LA gave the IOC members an update on the hosting plan at their annual meeting.
Wasserman and other officials were questioned about issues such as visa processing for international visitors to the U.S., but not about personal matters. They did not later meet with international media, while officials from other prospective Olympic hosts did.
Wasserman has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and Maxwell.
In a statement issued before coming to Milan, Wasserman said: “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,” which took place “long before her heinous crimes came to light.”
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of five counts of sex trafficking and abuse of minors and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein’s death in a New York jail cell in 2019 was ruled a suicide and came a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
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