Hollywood star Casey Wasserman on Friday informed staff at his talent agency that he will be selling the company, a move that comes as he deals with the fallout from his relationship with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a memo to employees obtained by NBC News, Wasserman wrote that he believed he had been a “distraction” at his eponymous company, which represents high-profile musicians and athletes.
“I am deeply sorry that my past mistakes have hurt you so much,” Wasserman wrote. “It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to the customers and partners that we strongly represent and care deeply about.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
Wasserman previously said he “deeply regrets” the 2003 email exchange with Maxwell. The letters were published by the Department of Justice in January as part of a new archive of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s ex-boyfriend.
In a previous statement, Wasserman said the book “took place twenty years ago, before his horrific crimes were revealed.” Wasserman added that he has no “personal or business relationship” with Epstein.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking charges. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein, who was convicted in Florida in 2008 of child prostitution, died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Wasserman has never been accused of wrongdoing or charged with a crime in connection with the Maxwell or Epstein cases.
In emails released by the Justice Department, Wasserman expresses interest in seeing Maxwell in a “tight leather outfit.”
“I think about you all the time,” Wasserman wrote to Maxwell in March 2003.
The uproar over the executive’s email exchange led to some Wasserman clients looking to leave this week.
Grammy-winning singer Chappell Roan announced Monday that he is ending his relationship with Wasserman’s talent agency. Abby Wambach, a retired women’s soccer star, did the same Wednesday morning.
Indie artists also criticized Wasserman. Bethany Cosentino, frontwoman of the Los Angeles rock group Best Coast, wrote on Instagram that she “didn’t agree that my name or my work was tied to someone with this kind of association with exploitation.”
The grandson of famous Hollywood power broker Lew Wasserman, the 51-year-old entertainment executive is also the chairman of the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. This week, the committee’s board announced it was siding with Wasserman.
“Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games,” LA28’s executive board said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We found that Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has been publicly documented,” the board said.
“Twenty-three years ago, before Mr. Wasserman or the public knew about the heinous crimes of Epstein and Maxwell, Mr. Wasserman and his wife at the time flew to Africa on Epstein’s plane at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation.
“This was his only contact with Epstein,” the board said. “Soon after that, he exchanged publicly known emails with Maxwell.”
In a memo to agency staff, Wasserman said Mike Watts will “take day-to-day control of the business while I give my full attention” to the 2028 Olympics.
