Karen Bass says Casey Wasserman should step down as LA28 chair

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a CNN interview Monday she believes Casey Wasserman should step down as chair of the LA28 Olympic organizing committee, breaking weeks of silence on the issue after Wasserman’s name surfaced in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

“My opinion is that he should step down,” Bass told CNN’s Dana Bash.

She added that while the LA28 board has discretion over its leadership, she did not support its recent decision to keep Wasserman in place.

“The board made a decision,” Bass said. “I think that decision was unfortunate. I don’t support the decision. I do think that we need to look at the leadership. However, my job as mayor of Los Angeles is to make sure that our city is completely prepared to have the best Olympics that has ever happened in Olympic history.”

Others who have called for Wasserman to step down are Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, and City Council members Hugo Soto-Martinez, Monica Rodriguez and Imelda Padilla.

Despite recent calls for his resignation, the LA28 Executive Committee of the Board last week affirmed Wasserman’s role as chair, citing an independent investigation into his interactions with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking for her role in a widespread sexual abuse scandal involving the late Epstein.

The board — the leaders responsible for planning and executing the preparations for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles — said in a statement that the organization takes allegations of misconduct seriously and is committed to thoroughly reviewing any concerns related to the organization’s leadership.

LA28 hired outside counsel O’Melveny & Myers LLP to conduct a review of Wasserman’s past interactions with Maxwell and Epstein. The board said Wasserman fully cooperated with the review.

“We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the board said in a statement.

“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,” the board added in its statement. “This was his single interaction with Epstein. Shortly after, he traded the publicly known emails with Maxwell.”

The executive committee determined that based on these facts, and Wasserman’s “strong leadership” exhibited over the past 10 years, that he should continue to lead LA28 and deliver the 2028 Games.

Last month, three Los Angeles City Council members and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, among other elected officials, called on Wasserman to resign from LA28 over a string of racy emails with Maxwell, and his alleged connection with Epstein.

Wasserman’s name surfaced when the latest batch of Epstein documents were made public in late January by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its investigation into Epstein, who died in a jail cell in August 2019 of a reported suicide as he awaited trial on federal charges.

The former financier was accused of procuring underage girls to perform sexual favors for various highly influential millionaires and billionaires at a private island.

The documents revealed salacious email exchanges between Wasserman and Maxwell, Epstein’s associate who was convicted in 2021 on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping Epstein procure girls and young women.

In a statement to various media outlets, Wasserman said, “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light. I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented, I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”

The newly released emails are from 2003. They feature flirtatious remarks from both parties, including Wasserman writing that he wanted to see Maxwell in a “tight leather outfit,” and Maxwell offering to give him a massage that can “drive a man wild.”

The 51-year-old Wasserman is the founder and CEO of Wasserman, a sports marketing and talent agency, and grandson of legendary Hollywood agent Lew Wasserman. But Wasserman said last week that he will sell his eponymous talent agency amid the response to the controversy.

Wasserman said in a Friday evening memo to his staff that he has begun the process of selling the company, according to a company spokesperson who provided the memo to The Associated Press.

Wasserman’s memo said he felt he had become a distraction to the company’s work.

“During this time, Mike Watts will assume day-to-day control of the business while I devote my full attention to delivering Los Angeles an Olympic Games in 2028 that is worthy of this outstanding city,” the memo stated.

His agency, also called Wasserman, has lost clients over the Maxwell emails. Singer Chappell Roan and retired U.S. women’s soccer legend Abby Wambach are among them.

Wasserman said in his memo to staff that his interactions with Maxwell and Epstein were limited and he regrets the emails.

“It was years before their criminal conduct came to light, and, in its entirety, consisted of one humanitarian trip to Africa and a handful of emails that I deeply regret sending,” the memo said. “And I’m heartbroken that my brief contact with them 23 years ago has caused you, this company, and its clients so much hardship over the past days and weeks.”

The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.