Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass publicly asked Casey Wasserman to resign as chair of LA28 after documents from Jeffrey Epstein came to light. This is a change from her previous position, even though the LA28 board backed Wasserman after an independent review.
The Department of Justice’s new Epstein files show that Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted Epstein associate, were flirting in emails in 2003. Wasserman also went on a humanitarian flight to Africa with the Clinton Foundation on Epstein’s plane that year. That was the only time he is known to have interacted with Epstein. He has said that he has no business ties to Epstein and that he is very sorry about the Maxwell communications.
LA28’s executive committee hired O’Melveny & Myers LLP to look into Wasserman’s past contacts. They found that they were consistent with what was publicly known and that there was no further wrongdoing. On February 11, 2026, the board unanimously agreed with his leadership, stressing the need to take allegations seriously. On CNN, Bass said she doesn’t agree with this choice and thinks the leadership needs to be reevaluated.
Wasserman has lost clients like Abby Wambach, who left his agency because of the emails, and others like Appellan and Summit have threatened him. He said last week that he was selling his agency because he was a distraction, and there were rumors that his competitors were getting involved. In order to be in line with city values for the 2028 Olympics, LA officials, including Supervisor Janice Hahn and Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, also want him to step down.
