Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee head Casey Wasserman issued a formal apology Saturday after the release of newly declassified government files revealed emails from 2003 exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker associated with Jeffrey Epstein.
The correspondence, made public on Friday, includes emails in which Wasserman made inappropriate remarks to Maxwell. In one message, he wrote, “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?” Another from April 2003 shows Maxwell offering to give Wasserman a massage that she claimed could “drive a man wild.” Additional exchanges referenced massages and even suggested the possibility of Maxwell floating naked down a beach during an upcoming visit, with Wasserman responding ambiguously.
In a statement issued Saturday, Wasserman expressed regret for the correspondence, stating it occurred “long before her horrific crimes came to light.” He emphasized that he “never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein” and clarified his past connection to Epstein on a humanitarian trip with the Clinton Foundation in 2002, which involved Epstein’s plane.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on five counts of sex trafficking and abuse of minors and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. The release of the documents was mandated by law, requiring the government to disclose files related to Epstein, Maxwell, and their associates. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, shortly after being indicted on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Wasserman, a prominent sports and talent agent, is known for representing top athletes and celebrities, including Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt. He has also been a leading figure in the effort to bring the 2028 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles—a return to the city after its previous hosting in 1984 and the first U.S. Summer Games since Atlanta in 1996.
In recent years, Wasserman’s personal life made headlines when he divorced his wife of 20 years, Laura Ziffren Wasserman, in 2021.