Casey Wasserman, the head of the LA28 Olympic committee, is facing growing calls to resign after the latest release of Jeffrey Epstein documents revealed racy emails between him and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
Wasserman, in Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics, has not responded to demands from several L.A. politicians who say that the controversy doesn’t align with the values of the Games and that he needs to step down.
He issued a statement over the weekend apologizing for the emails but hasn’t directly addressed reporters in the U.S. or Italy, where Olympics officials are facing questions about Wasserman after his name surfaced in the files released by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Epstein case.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declined to weigh in on the controversy around Wasserman, releasing a statement Wednesday that said LA28’s board of directors is responsible for deciding LA28’s leadership.
Calls and emails to representatives for several LA28 board members, including actor Jessica Alba and entertainment mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, were not returned this week.
Wasserman is president of the board, which is made up of dozens of high-profile leaders in sports, business, labor and other fields.
Some of those seeking Wasserman’s resignation emphasized how the scandal tainted the Olympics’ celebration of female athletes, with L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath arguing that LA28 must “demonstrate how much they truly value women” when it comes to Wasserman’s fate.
L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia, state Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) and five Los Angeles City Council members — Hugo Soto-Martínez, Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez and Imelda Padilla — are among those who have called for his resignation.
“It’s going to be hard for him to survive this,” said communications consultant Helen Sanchez.
Sanchez, who walked in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as a volunteer, said Wasserman lacks close relationships with L.A. elected officials and community members who might come to his defense.
“I don’t view Casey Wasserman as a person who’s generated a lot of goodwill in the city,” Sanchez said.
Wasserman survived a previous scandal. In 2024, a story in the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, alleged that Wasserman had several affairs, while married, with women who worked for him, an allegation he denied.
The report was published during the August Paris Olympic Games around the time that Wasserman was in the French city to talk about Los Angeles’ plans to host in 2028.
Singer Billie Eilish — one of Wasserman’s clients at his entertainment agency — stepped away from his firm because of the infidelity allegations, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Wasserman at the time dismissed the allegations and refused to resign from his job leading LA28.
Many of the women mentioned in the 2024 Daily Mail story and related stories in other outlets declined to speak to The Times in 2024 and 2025.
The latest controversy over Wasserman’s name being included in the politically charged Epstein files surfaced last week.
In emails sent in March and April 2003, Wasserman — who was married at the time — wrote to Maxwell about wanting to book a massage and wanting to see her in a tight leather outfit.
She offered to give him a massage that can “drive a man wild,” and the pair discussed how much they missed each other, according to emails posted online by federal officials.
Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 of luring young women to have sex with Epstein during a period starting in 1994 through 2004.
Wasserman said in a statement over the weekend that he regretted his correspondence with Maxwell, which he said occurred “long before her horrific crimes came to light.”
“I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Wasserman said in the statement, adding, “I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”
Erika Masonhall, spokesperson for Wasserman, declined to comment Tuesday or answer questions about his relationship with Maxwell.
The grandson of Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, Wasserman runs a talent and marketing firm representing a vast number of well-known athletes and entertainment figures.
He appears regularly at events alongside politicians, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who appointed him to help with the fire recovery in Southern California.
LA28 last year added several high-profile Republicans with deep ties to President Trump to its board of directors as the nonprofit works with the federal government on transportation and security for the Games.
Rich Perelman, former vice president of press operations for the 1984 L.A. Olympic organizing committee, said this week that Wasserman should be judged on LA28’s success, not on what occurred two decades ago.
“Anyone who says that they haven’t done something in their life that they regret is a liar,” said Perelman, who today runs the Sports Examiner.com, an online news site dedicated to Olympic sports.
In Italy, a reporter on Wednesday asked a top Olympics official if Wasserman is the right person to lead the Games in L.A. in light of the controversy.
“Casey’s put out his statement and there’s really nothing else for me to add,” said International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.
She said that the makeup of the LA28 committee is “not something that we are going to get involved in.”
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