LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Casey Wasserman, chairman of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, plans to sell his sports marketing and talent agency amid the ongoing fallout from salacious emails he exchanged years ago with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

He announced the pending sale of Wasserman Media Group in a Friday night memo to his staff, according to the Pollstar trade publication.

Wasserman founded the Los Angeles-based agency in 2002.

"Our clients expect -- and deserve -- world-class representation," Wasserman said in the memo. "And that's exactly what they get because of all of you. At this moment, I believe that I have become a distraction to those efforts. That is why I have begun the process of selling the company, an effort that is already underway."

He further stated that Mike Watts, a longtime executive with the firm, "will assume day-to-day control of the business while I devote my full attention to delivering Los Angeles an Olympic Games in 2028 that is worthy of this outstanding city.

"First and foremost, I want to apologize to you. I'm deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort. 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."

Wasserman's prominence as a power player in the sports world expanded to the live music industry with his 2021 purchase of Paradigm, the agency behind booking performers including Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and Imagine Dragons, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

News of the pending sale comes after several of the agency's top talents, including singer Chappell Roan -- who won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, the bands Beach Bunny and Water From Your Eyes, the duo Sylvan Esso and U.S. women's soccer star Abby Wambach, announced plans to leave the agency.

"As of today, I am no longer represented by Wasserman," Roan wrote on Instagram Monday. "I hold my teams to the highest standards... No artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values.*"

The sale announcement also comes two days after the LA28 Executive Committee Board announced their continued support for Wasserman as chair of the Olympic organizing effort, despite calls for his resignation.

On Wednesday, the board, which is responsible for planning and executing preparations for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, noted that an independent investigation by the O'Melveny & Myers law firm -- with Wasserman's full cooperation -- examined his past interactions with Maxwell.

The former British socialite is serving a 20 year federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping the late financier and accused sex offender Epstein procure girls and young women to perform sexual favors for highly influential millionaires and billionaires at a private island.

"We found Mr. Wasserman's relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented," the board said in a statement.

"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 board said in its statement.

The Olympic committee determined that based on these facts, and Wasserman's "strong leadership" exhibited over the past 10 years, he should continue to lead LA28 and deliver the 2028 Games.

Earlier this month, three Los Angeles City Council members and County Supervisor Janice Hahn, among other elected officials, called on Wasserman to resign from LA28 after the string of racy emails with Maxwell, and his alleged connection with Epstein. became publicly known.

Wasserman's name surfaced when the latest batch of Epstein documents were made public late January by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its investigation into Epstein, who died in a jail cell in August 2019 of a reported suicide as he awaited trial on federal charges.

In an earlier statement to various media outlets, Wasserman said, "I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light. I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented. I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them."

The newly released emails are from 2003. They feature flirtatious remarks from both parties, including Wasserman writing that he wanted to see Maxwell in a "tight leather outfit," and Maxwell offering to give him a massage that can "drive a man wild."

The 51-year-old founder and CEO of Wasserman Media Group is the grandson of legendary Hollywood agent and movie mogul Lew Wasserman.

He recently traveled to Milan, Italy, with the LA28 delegation for the Winter Olympics.

Tim Conway Jr