Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and other local elected officials today called on LA 2028 Olympics committee chair Casey Wasserman to resign over a string of racy emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s been convicted of sex trafficking for her role in a widespread sexual abuse scandal involving the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Hahn, who is among the L.A. County and city officials working with LA28, the organizing committee for the Games, told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday that Wasserman needs to step down.
“Having him represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous efforts needed to prepare for 2028,” said Hahn.
Los Angeles City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez issued a statement Tuesday echoing Hahn’s sentiments.
“At the same time as Ghislaine Maxwell was orchestrating one of the most notorious sex-trafficking operations in our country’s history, she was allegedly romantically involved with the person now serving as chair of LA28,” Soto-Martinez said in a statement.
“Casey Wasserman should step aside immediately. Anything less is a distraction and undermines efforts to make sure the Games truly reflect the values of a city that is for everyone,” added Soto-Martinez.
Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, also called on Wasserman to resign.
Los Angeles is expected to host the most Olympic events, with Long Beach hosting the second most.
Wasserman’s name surfaced when the latest batch of Epstein documents were made public Friday 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 multiple 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.”
Unlike a number of high-profile men, Wasserman has never been alleged to be involved with anything around Epstein’s trafficking and sexual abuse of minors. Still, the depth of the association with Epstein’s right-hand lady and apparent procurer has left locals officials and others in L.A. uneasy.
Wasserman is in Milan, Italy, this week for the Winter Olympics with the LA28 delegation.
Asked Sunday in the lead-up to the Milan-Cortina Winter Games about the correspondence between the then-married Wasserman and now convicted sex trafficker Maxwell and whether it could be “damaging to the preparations for the Olympics” in Los Angeles two years from now, IOC president Kirsty Coventry waved off the whole thing.
“We didn’t discuss it yesterday and I believe Mr. Wasserman has put out his statement and we now have nothing further to add,” the ex-Olympic swimmer and Zimbabwean cabinet minister said Sunday, clearly trying to bring the matter to heel.
Later, at the same openly deferential press conference, Coventry lamented how “sad” it was that issues like Wasserman’s links to deceased pedophile and financier Epstein’s circle were “distracting from these Games.”
The 51-year-old Wasserman is the founder and CEO of Wasserman, a sports marketing and talent agency, and the grandson of legendary Hollywood agent Lew Wasserman.
Dominic Patten and City News Service contributed to this report.
