Casey Wasserman will remain as the head of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, says the LA28 Board.
After a quickly called emergency meeting Wednesday over Wasserman’s recently revealed relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the pedophile’s inner circle, leaders of Wasserman’s hand-picked board, which includes Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jeanie Buss, Kevin McCarthy and Jessica Alba, have determined his connections to the now dead convicted sex offender and his emails with Ghislaine Maxwell.are not enough to send him packing — at least not yet.
“The Executive Committee of the Board has determined that based on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has exhibited over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games,” the board said in a statement this morning after receiving “assistance of outside counsel at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.”
“We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the board added. See the full LA28 board statement on Wasserman below.
Some big names have been in play, like former House Speaker and Trump whisperer McCarthy as Deadline reported exclusively Tuesday, to potentially take over from Wasserman if the board made a move to push him off his perch. Still, even as the Epstein connection has become all consuming for the exec and seen big names like Chappell Roan earlier this week and today soccer legend Abby Wambach exit his company over “moral values” and calls for him to resign, allies of the grandson of Tinseltown’s one-time legendary boss Lew Wasserman went in to today’s meeting prepared to fight to the teeth for the current LA28 chair, I’m told.
In particular, Katzenberg was seen as the most vocal advocate for Wasserman, at least for now.
“Jeffrey would lay down his life for Casey,” a well-placed source told Deadline. Another insider cautioned that the support of the ex-DreamWorks kingpin could only go so far. “Jeffrey’s a realist, and he likes to be on the winning side,” the insider stated. “If and when Jeffrey realizes Casey’s toast, he’ll make his own move.”
There was also, in the words of another well-placed source, “the Trump factor.” Wasserman has been conducting a full court press over the last year to bring the former Apprentice host on side as an LA28 fan with flattery, board appointments and even 1984 Olympic medals. In the world of realpolitick, board members and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have been concerned ever since Wasserman’s name was among the millions of pages of the Epstein Files dumped late last month by the DOJ, that POTUS could punish the 2028 Games by withholding much needed federal funding if the LA28 chair was removed.
Even before the board’s vote of support today, the consensus was that Wednesday’s LA28 board meeting would likely not see Wasserman out or a new chair installed. However, the word is, as a person close to events put it, “this still looks like the beginning of the end, especially if there’s another shoe to drop from Casey’s past.”
That takes on added significance as Wasserman has a history of interactions with women and others that has more than raised eyebrows before — a couple years ago Billie Eilish left Wasserman’s music unit in what was widely perceived to be a response to his relationships with some LA28 staffers.
Also, Wasserman in recent weeks assured individuals at his company and LA28, that besides the 2002 humanitarian trip with Epstein, there was nothing more to come from his involvement with the shady financier and his procurer Maxwell. The revelations of the would-be sexting emails with the now incarcerated and Fifth Amendment-taking Maxwell blew that assurance out of the window, a number of sources told me.
Sources tell Deadline that today’s LA28 board gathering was virtual, but saw some participants in the same location. A spokesperson for Wasserman himself, who had dropped out of at least Hollywood shindig in recent days with more on the chopping block, would not confirm the meeting or comment on its agenda.
Back in L.A. from the Winter Olympics in Italy, and seemingly still backed by IOC leadership, Wasserman has already dropped out of one suited and booted L.A. sports event because of the toxic taint of Epstein. An NBA All-Star weekend party is still on the books as of this morning, as is Wasserman’s participation as an honoree at February 26’s The Wallis Delivers: Cheers to the Home Team event to honor the LA28 boss and Buss. In terms of the latter, organizers are looking for a graceful off-ramp to avoid any red faces for fellow attendees such as Honorary Chair and NBA commissioner Adam Silver and outgoing Disney CEO Bob Iger, I hear.
Stay tuned.
Read the full statement today from the LA28 Board here:
After meeting on Wednesday, February 11, the Executive Committee of the Board issued the following statement:
LA28 takes allegations of misconduct seriously, and our Board is committed to thoroughly reviewing any concerns related to the organization’s leadership.
With the assistance of outside counsel at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, a review was conducted of Mr. Wasserman’s past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Mr. Wasserman fully cooperated with the review.
We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.
Twenty-three years ago, before Mr. Wasserman or the public knew of Epstein and Maxwell’s deplorable crimes, Mr. Wasserman and his then-wife flew on a humanitarian mission to Africa on Epstein’s plane at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation. This was his single interaction with Epstein. Shortly after, he traded the publicly-known emails with Maxwell.
The Executive Committee of the Board has determined that based on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has exhibited over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games.
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