The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said that it is monitoring scrutiny surrounding Casey Wasserman in the wake of continued fallout from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics chairman being included in government files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Wednesday, USOPC chair Gene Sykes spoke with the media on a conference call and when asked, he said that the organization was actively reviewing any concerns the public or strategic partners had regarding Wasserman.
“We’ve actively engaged and listened to our stakeholders, including athletes and we’re closely monitoring the impact on our community,” Sykes said. “We’ve also shared our concerns directly with the LA28 board, which is responsible for determining who serves as its chair.”
Wasserman has faced intense pressure to resign as LA28 chairman after it was revealed that he traveled on Epstein’s private plane in 2002 and exchanged several flirtatious emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with sex crimes and helping recruit victims for Epstein.
During the call, Sykes noted that LA28 official have made significant progress securing partnerships and the work of organizers met the approval of collaborators.
The LA28 board conducted its own inquiry of Wasserman and said on February 11 that he still had the full backing of the committee after being cleared of any wrongdoing based on their assessment. They also noted that any information about Wasserman and his interactions with Epstein and Maxwell were already publicly revealed in government documents.
But L.A. mayor Karen Bass called for Wasserman to step down during an interview with CNN days later where she also criticized the board’s choice to not remove him from the position.
“The board made a decision. I think that was unfortunate,” Bass said in the interview. “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.”
Bass does not have the authority to remove Wasserman as chairman and in late February, LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover was adamant in his intention to keep the leadership structure in place.
“The board has taken their position — they support him and I support him,” Hoover said. “We’ve got a great leadership team here at LA28. Just look at the results.”
But even with his job to help steer L.A.’s Olympic efforts mostly secure, Wasserman said in February that he would sell his stake in his talent agency that he founded two decades ago. His company, The Wasserman Agency, was rebranded as The Team in March and the same of his portion of the business is expected to happen later in the year.
