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Sports and entertainment executive Casey Wasserman is reportedly putting his talent and marketing firm up for sale after newly surfaced emails revealed flirtatious exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell — leading numerous big-time clients to flee.
Wasserman told staffers at his eponymous agency on Friday night that he had “become a distraction” to the firm’s work, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In 2003, Wasserman and Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after her sex-trafficking conviction, exchanged a series of sexually suggestive emails in 2003.
In a March 16, 2003 message, Maxwell wrote, “Casey – I will be coming back to NY tom late afternoon. I shall be wearing a tight leather flying suit…”
She added in a postscript, “Whilst in NY without me – What would you like to do.. What time do you land?”
Wasserman replied, “I think of you all the time…” He then asked, “So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
In a separate email dated April 2, 2003, Wasserman wrote, “Well I thought we would start at that place that you know of, and then continue the massage concept into your bed…and then again in the morning…not sure if or when we would stop.”
Wasserman’s decision to put the agency up for sale comes on the heels of several high-profile departures, including Grammy winner Chappell Roan and US women’s soccer star Abby Wambach.
“I’m deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort,” Wasserman wrote in the memo reviewed by the Journal.
“It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to the clients and partners we represent so vigorously and care so deeply about,” he wrote.
Wasserman will stay on as chairman of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after the organizing committee voted unanimously earlier this week to keep him on board, according to the Journal.
Mike Watts, a longtime executive, will assume day-to-day control of the talent agency while Wasserman focuses on the 2028 Olympics, the Journal reported.
Wasserman’s ties to Epstein date back to 2002, when he joined the financier, Maxwell, former President Bill Clinton and others on Epstein’s private jet.
The group flew to visit HIV/AIDS project sites in Africa.
An emergency physician who was on the trip told federal investigators in 2020 that several young women, including a masseuse, a model and a ballerina, were also on the trip, though he could not explain why they were there, the Journal reported.
The Post has sought comment from Wasserman.
Other high-powered names linked to Epstein in the newly released files have also been made to suffer professional consequences.
Kathryn Ruemmler resigned as chief legal officer of Goldman Sachs following mounting scrutiny over her ties to Epstein, including newly released emails showing she provided informal advice and maintained a friendly correspondence with the convicted sex offender.
Dubai logistics tycoon Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem likewise exited his leadership role at DP World after sexually explicit correspondence with Epstein surfaced, prompting major international partners to pause business dealings with the company.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers also withdrew from several high-profile positions after files revealed personal messages exchanged with Epstein, including requests for romantic advice — conduct he later said left him “deeply ashamed.”
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