Feb 4 (Reuters) – Local officials in Los Angeles are calling on Casey Wasserman to resign as LA2028 Olympics chief for communicating with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, according to a Los Angeles Times report. New files released related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein showed flirtatious emails […]
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Olympics-LA28 chair Wasserman called on to resign over Epstein files, LA Times reports
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Feb 4 (Reuters) – Local officials in Los Angeles are calling on Casey Wasserman to resign as LA2028 Olympics chief for communicating with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
New files released related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein showed flirtatious emails between Wasserman and Maxwell as early as 2003. Wasserman has denied having a personal or business relationship with Epstein.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach LA28 officials for comment. Wasserman on Sunday apologised for his association with Maxwell, saying their relationship came before her or Epstein’s crimes were revealed.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, State Senator Lena Gonzalez and a trio of city council members were among those who called for Wasserman to resign, according to the report on Tuesday.
“Having him represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous effort needed to prepare for 2028,” Hahn told the LA Times.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry said on Wednesday that the LA 2028 leadership structure was not up to the IOC, when asked whether Wasserman was becoming a potential liability for the organising committee.
“As we said before Casey put out a statement,” Coventry told a press conference. “From the IOC point of view, the OCOG (LA Games organising committee) and how it is structured is not something that we will be involved in.”
On Sunday she had said any distraction shortly before the start of the Milano Cortina Olympics was “sad”.
The U.S. Justice Department has released millions of documents that show Epstein’s connections to prominent figures across politics, entertainment and business.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and died by suicide that year in a Manhattan jail cell.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan; Additional reprting by Karolos Grohmann. Editing by David Holmes and Toby Davis)