Imperfect Paradise: Money, politics and power: Casey Wasserman remains head of LA28 Olympics despite connections to Jeffrey Epstein. What does this mean for Olympics planning?
California City
LAist Studios
4.5 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
LA 2028 Olympics head Casey Wasserman is facing growing pressure to resign from his post after recently released Epstein files revealed emails Wasserman exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell. The board behind LA28 — the private planning committee in charge of organizing the 2028 Games — has voted to keep Wasserman at the group’s helm, despite many city officials calling for his resignation, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
LAist reporter Libby Rainey has been tracking the Olympics and joins Imperfect Paradise to discuss what power the mayor has to remove Wasserman, the relationship between the city and LA28 and what it means if Wasserman does step down.
Disclosure: Los Angeles civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who LAist interviewed for this story, is a Life Trustee of LAist.
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Transcript
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| 0:35.9 | The Trump administration has released millions of pages of documents, texts, and emails from the Epstein files over the past few months in connection with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. |
| 0:46.7 | Those docs have revealed Epstein's ties and associations to numerous prominent figures from politicians and academics to philanthropists and business leaders. |
| 0:57.8 | The revelations of their identities have triggered fallout across the globe. On Thursday, |
| 1:03.1 | former Prince Andrew was arrested in the UK for his ties to Epstein. But it's also hit home right |
| 1:09.1 | here in Los Angeles. The building tensions in SoCal involved the head of the |
| 1:13.6 | 2008 L.A. Olympics, Casey Wasserman. Media Mobile and chairman of the 2008 LA Olympics organizing committee, |
| 1:21.2 | Casey Wasserman, now selling his talent agency amid major fallout over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Galane Maxwell. |
| 1:29.3 | As the Winter Olympics in Milan are coming to a close, the mood around the 2028 games is |
| 1:34.4 | anything but celebratory. Wasserman remains at the helm of LA28, the private nonprofit that's |
| 1:40.2 | putting on the games. That's despite growing calls for him to step down. |
| 1:44.9 | Even Mayor Karen Vass has weighed in. |
| 1:47.0 | Here's what she said on CNN. |
| 1:49.3 | My opinion is that he should step down. |
| 1:54.5 | The situation raises questions around money, politics, power, |
| 1:58.5 | the fallout from the Epstein files, and the 28 LA Olympics. |
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