Microsoft founder Bill Gates has cancelled his keynote speech at India’s flagship AI summit just hours before he was due to take the stage on Thursday.
Gates, who has faced renewed scrutiny over his past ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, withdrew to “ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities”, the Gates Foundation said in a statement.
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The five-day India AI Impact Summit 2026 was meant to showcase India’s ambitions in the booming sector, with the country expecting to attract more than $200bn in investment over the next two years.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had billed the summit as an opportunity for India to shape the future of AI, drawing high-profile attendees, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Instead, it has been dogged by controversy, from Gates’s abrupt exit to an incident in which an Indian university tried to pass off a Chinese-made robotic dog as its own innovation.
So, what exactly went wrong at India’s flagship AI gathering and why has it drawn such intense scrutiny?
Why Gates’s appearance became an issue
Bill Gates was due to deliver a short but high-profile speech highlighting the opportunities and risks posed by artificial intelligence.
However, in recent weeks, several opposition figures and commentators in Indian media weighed in after emails featuring his name were released in the Epstein files in late January, questioning whether his presence was appropriate.
Despite the discussion, all appeared to be proceeding as planned earlier in the week. On Tuesday, the Gates Foundation’s India office posted on X that Gates would attend the summit and “deliver his keynote as scheduled”.
Then, on Thursday, hours before the scheduled speech, it released a statement saying that “After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr Gates will not be delivering his keynote address.”
It added that Ankur Vora, president of the Gates Foundation’s Africa and India offices, would deliver the speech instead.
What are the alleged links between Epstein and Gates?
Bill Gates was named in documents related to Epstein released in January by the US Department of Justice.
In a draft email included among the documents, Epstein alleged Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs and sought his help in procuring drugs “to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls”.
It was unclear whether Epstein actually sent the email, and Gates denies any wrongdoing.
The Gates Foundation, in a statement to The New York Times, called the allegations “absolutely absurd and completely false”.
What has India’s government said?
Very little.
Despite criticism and calls from opposition figures to explain the invitation to Gates, the Indian government has not directly addressed the controversy that culminated in Gates’s withdrawal.
While unnamed government sources told local media he would not attend the summit, officials stopped short of explaining why.
Asked about Gates’s participation, Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declined to give a clear answer to reporters, while Modi made no reference to the issue in his public remarks.
Why are the Epstein files a sensitive subject for India?
The controversy surrounding Gates’s planned participation comes close on the heels of a series of disclosures in the Epstein files that have forced the Modi government on the backfoot.
In one email to an unidentified individual he referred to only as “Jabor Y”, Epstein referred to Modi’s historic visit – the first by an Indian prime minister – to Israel in July 2017.
Epstein wrote: “The Indian Prime minister modi took advice. and danced and sang in israel for the benefit of the US president. they had met a few weeks ago.. IT WORKED. !”
Modi’s visit to Israel – and his subsequent embrace of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, with military, intelligence and other ties strengthened over the past decade – had already drawn criticism from the opposition Congress party and others, who have accused him of reversing decades of Indian support for the Palestinian cause. India was the first non-Arab nation to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974, and did not establish full diplomatic relations with Israel until 1992.
But the Epstein email turbocharged the opposition criticism of Modi’s Israel policy – with questions now also asked about whether it was influenced by Washington.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the Epstein email in an unusually sharply worded statement.
“Beyond the fact of the prime minister’s official visit to Israel in July 2017, the rest of the allusions in the email are little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal, which deserve to be dismissed with the utmost contempt,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
But the Epstein cloud continues to hover over India.
The files also show that India’s current oil minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, exchanged dozens of emails with Epstein after he joined Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.
In many of them, Puti appears to be taking Epstein’s help in getting US investors, such as LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, to visit India. In others, he appears to suggest that he had a fairly comfortable personal relationship with Epstein.
“Please let me know when you are back from your exotic island,” Puri wrote in December 2014, for instance, asking to set up a meeting in which Puri could give Epstein some books to “excite an interest in India”.
Puri, in a new conference, has claimed that he only met Epstein “three or four times”, but the Congress party has argued that the emails suggest a much closer relationship.
Gates’s work in India
The Gates Foundation has long been a key partner in India’s public health and development sectors, backing major vaccination drives, disease prevention campaigns and sanitation programmes.
At the same time, he has had vocal critics, including environmental activist Vandana Shiva, who has argued that Gates’s brand of “philanthro-imperialism” uses wealth to control global food systems.
Gates also faced heavy criticism after a 2024 podcast in which he said India was “a kind of laboratory to try things … that then, when you prove them out in India, you can take to other places” when discussing development programmes and the foundation’s work there.
‘Orion’ the robodog and other controversies
Beyond the fallout over Bill Gates’s cancelled keynote, the AI Impact Summit has faced several controversies.
One incident involved a robotic dog named “Orion”, which Galgotias University, based in the New Delhi suburban town of Greater Noida, presented as its own innovation.
Online users quickly identified the machine as a commercially available Chinese-made model, prompting organisers to ask the institution to vacate its stall.
The event also drew criticism on its opening day after facing logistical issues, including long queues and confusion over entry procedures, according to local media.
On Wednesday, large crowds were seen walking for miles after police cordoned off roads for VIP access.
Dhananjay Yadav, the CEO of a company exhibiting high-tech wearables, made headlines after he reported on social media that devices had been stolen from the company’s stand.
The Times of India later reported that two maintenance workers at the event had been arrested for allegedly stealing the wearables.
The ‘truth commission’ will interview victims who say they were abused at the sprawling property south of Santa Fe.
Lawmakers in the US state of New Mexico have approved the first fully-fledged investigation into Zorro Ranch, a sprawling property where the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is alleged to have trafficked and sexually assaulted girls and women.
The legislation, which passed New Mexico’s House of Representatives by a unanimous vote on Monday, forms a bipartisan “truth commission”.
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Its four members will seek testimony from victims and local residents about the ranch, located about 55km (34 miles) south of the state capital, Santa Fe.
Members are slated to begin work on Tuesday, with an initial update to be delivered in July and a full report by the end of this year.
The move comes in the wake of the release of more than three million previously unpublicised files related to the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
State Representative Melanie Stansbury said in a video posted after the vote that the commission will “help to bring forward a full picture of what happened here in New Mexico”.
“The crimes that were reported to federal and state authorities were never fully investigated,” Stansbury said. The probe seeks to “ensure we have safeguards in place not only to hold those individuals accountable, who were complicit, but to ensure that this can never happen again”.
Epstein bought the 7,600-acre (3075-hectare) property, which included a hilltop mansion and private runway, from former New Mexico Democrat Governor Bruce King in 1993.
Victim advocates say Epstein trafficked and sexually abused girls at the so-called “playboy ranch” as early as 1996, including Virginia Giuffre, the prominent victim who accused Epstein and the disgraced British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of abuse.
Multiple civil lawsuits specify the ranch as a site of abuse. Epstein’s habit of flying “masseuses” to the property – as well as hiring local massage therapists – was also revealed in the Epstein files as part of a ranch manager’s 2007 testimony to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Epstein was never charged with crimes related to the site.
“Many of the survivors had experiences in New Mexico, and as we’ve learned, you know, there were local politicians and other people that were aware of what was happening in New Mexico,” said Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer whose law firm has represented hundreds of Epstein survivors.
Yet federal investigators never cast their eye on the property, according to Andrea Romero, a New Mexico state representative who co-sponsored the legislation.
And while New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas attempted to kick off a probe in 2019, federal prosecutors asked for it to be put on hold to avoid a “parallel investigation”, he said in a statement.
Epstein “was basically doing anything he wanted in this estate without any accountability whatsoever”, Romero said.
The committee – which will have subpoena power – aims to close that gap by gathering testimony that could be used in future litigation, Romero said. New Mexico’s state attorney general has also allocated a special agent to look into any allegations that arise.
The ranch was sold at a 2023 auction to the family of Don Huffines, a former Republican Texas senator who is now running for Texas state comptroller, the Santa Fe New Mexican media outlet reported. A family spokesperson said they would give investigators “full and complete cooperation”.
At a House Judiciary hearing on Wednesday, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi was holding a document labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History” that included a list of files from the unredacted Epstein archive accessible to lawmakers such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
That means over the course of a year Bondi’s Department of Justice has made time to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell — the New York socialite who helped Jeffrey Epstein run his billion-dollar child-sex-trafficking operation — and it made time to surveil a Democratic lawmaker who conducts oversight as a member of the Judiciary Committee. But it has yet to meet with the victims of Epstein’s crimes who want to talk.
When she took office, Bondi promised us transparency. She didn’t promise we would like what we would see from her.
The general public’s awareness of Epstein’s heinous crimes came with political baggage. However at this point, the question we all should wonder is: How does redacting the names of the men who helped fund Epstein’s operation benefit either political party? It may be good for the rich and powerful men trying to avoid accountability, but it’s not exactly a campaign platform.
Yet here we are as a country, chained to the same vocabulary used during an election, so a conversation that should be about right and wrong is accompanied by poll numbers and analysis about the midterm elections. As if the Justice Department’s refusal to interview rape survivors is an inside-the-Beltway topic and not reflective of a larger moral crisis. We have seen Congress kept out of session to avoid voting on the release of the Epstein files; we have heard equivocation about whether Epstein was a pedophile. We know Epstein’s island was a place where evil resided.
The investigation, or lack of investigation, into Epstein’s fellow abusers should not be seen by anyone as a political quandary in which the object of the game is to keep your party in power. The fact that there is a Republican-vs.-Democrat divide on accountability for sex abuse reveals a national moral crisis. When the abuse of children is viewed through a partisan lens, how else can one describe this period in America?
Fifty years ago, when President Carter was tasked with healing the nation after the Watergate scandal, he told Americans in his inaugural address that he was leaning on his faith, and one prophet in particular.
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?,” Carter said, quoting Micah 6:8. “This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our government, and a new spirit among us all. A president may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.”
The Hebrew prophet Micah was from a rural area, not born into the wealth of the royal court. He was not being compensated by those who were. Instead, Micah reflected the voice of the people who were forced to live in poor conditions because of corruption. He described the actions of the morally bankrupt judges, political leaders and other elites in graphic, violent terms, condemning those “who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones.”
This, he said, is what it is like being ruled by those who are not guided by what is good and what is evil, but rather what is most beneficial for themselves in the moment. When Micah spoke, it wasn’t about the latest poll numbers. His warnings about government corruption are not unique to any particular faith, nor are they married to any political party. They embody centuries of human history, a history that tells what happens to a society when power goes unchecked.
And be not mistaken, it was unchecked power — not any party affiliation — that provided Epstein and Maxwell with patronage. It was moral failure, not conservatives or liberals, that provided cover for their child-sex-trafficking ring.
So if for partisan reasons the abusers of children are not held accountable for their crimes, the language of politics fails us. The word for that is simply: evil.
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
The Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi has created a moral crisis by allowing the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s fellow abusers to become a partisan political issue rather than a matter of fundamental accountability and justice[3]. The DOJ has monitored a Democratic lawmaker’s access to Epstein files while reportedly meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell but declining to meet with Epstein survivors seeking to discuss their experiences[1][3].
Redacting the names of wealthy and powerful men implicated in Epstein’s crimes while exposing victims’ identities serves no legitimate governmental interest and only protects the rich and powerful from accountability regardless of political affiliation[3]. The failure to hold co-conspirators accountable after more than a year in office, combined with refusals to apologize to survivors, demonstrates a troubling prioritization of protecting certain interests over justice[3].
When child sexual abuse becomes filtered through partisan politics rather than evaluated on moral grounds, it reflects a fundamental failure of governance and represents a national crisis of conscience[3]. The politicization of this issue obscures what should be a universal principle: that accountability for crimes against children transcends party affiliation and election cycles[3].
Different views on the topic
The Department of Justice maintains that it records all searches conducted in its systems specifically to safeguard against the disclosure of victim information, suggesting that monitoring access to sensitive Epstein files serves a protective function rather than partisan surveillance[1]. Attorney General Bondi stated that the department has pending investigations in its office related to potential Epstein conspirators[2], indicating that prosecutorial work continues despite public criticism.
The release of Epstein files is an ongoing process requiring careful legal review to protect victims’ privacy and ensure proper handling of sensitive evidence[4]. The DOJ’s approach to redacting certain information may reflect legitimate institutional concerns about victim protection and the complexities of managing millions of declassified documents[1].
New Epstein files expose his ties to Britain’s elite. Could the fallout shake Keir Starmer’s Labour?
Ex-Prince Andrew was the tip of the iceberg. The latest trove of Epstein files reveals new details about former UK envoy Peter Mandelson’s ‘best pal’ relationship with the convicted sex offender that have pushed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour into a new crisis. Is this the scandal that defines Labour?
In this episode:
Kieran Andrieu (@kieran_andrieu) Political Economist and Novara Media contributor
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Melanie Marich, with Sarí el-Khalili, Chloe Li, Spencer Cline, Maya Hamadeh, Tuleen Barakat, Sonia Bhagat and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhemm. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Recently released video shows the butler of Jeffrey Epstein trying to sell a supposed list of victims and clients during an FBI sting in 2009, revealing details of the billionaire’s operations well before the public became aware over a decade later.
How a convicted sex offender leveraged his money and contacts to advance Israel’s agenda and his own.
What do we know about Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Israel? We talk with Craig Mokhiber, who spent decades inside the UN system, about what millions of newly released files reveal about Epstein’s effort to reshape the Middle East in Israel’s favor, why this story remains underreported, and what it means for how power operates globally.
In this episode:
Craig Mokhiber (@craigmokhiber), Human Rights Lawyer and Former UN Official
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé, Chloe K. Li, and Tamara Khandaker, with Melanie Marich, Maya Hamadeh, Tuleen Barakat, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Alexandra Locke.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhemm. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
When Casey Wasserman boarded Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet for a two-week tour of Africa in 2002, he had little inkling he was embarking on a journey that could imperil his fortune.
The 28-year-old scion of Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman was already the heir of a multimillion-dollar philanthropic foundation, the owner of a professional football team and the founder of a growing sports marketing firm. But many saw this as just the beginning for Wasserman, who seemed destined to follow his legendary grandfather as a business, political and culture titan.
He found an opportunity to step onto the world stage when former President Clinton invited him on a humanitarian trip to five African countries to promote AIDS/HIV prevention and economic development in nations racked by disease and war.
Wasserman, a prolific Clinton fundraiser whose grandfather helped him win the 1992 presidential election, was joined by others including his then-wife, Laura, actor Kevin Spacey, Epstein and his longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell.
Casey Wasserman, then a 28-year-old owner of the LA Avengers, is photographed at his office in Beverly Hills in January 2003.
(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Revelations around that trip and Wasserman’s risque emails with Maxwell now threaten his legacy.
A trove of documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice offer new details about the journey to Africa and Wasserman’s intimate relationship with Maxwell — an entanglement that has jeopardized his leadership of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
From left, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, then-AEG CEO of Timothy J. Leiweke and Casey Wasserman attend the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in 2011 in New York City.
(Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images for AEG)
Wasserman boarded Epstein’s jet three years before the family of a 14-year-old girl in Palm Beach, Fla., reported she was molested by Epstein, triggering a decades-long investigation that resulted in Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution and 2019 arrest for sex trafficking underage girls. Wasserman has not been linked to any of Epstein’s wrongdoings.
Wasserman has previously apologized for his correspondence with Maxwell and expressed regret for having any association with both her and Epstein.
In a statement to The Times on Sunday, he said the Africa trip was the only time he met Epstein. “Following that trip, where I never witnessed anything inappropriate, I did not speak to, see him or communicate with him ever again,” he said.
This undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein and convicted sex offender.
(U.S. Department of Justice via Associated Press)
For Wasserman, now 51, the most damaging of the files highlight his relationship with Maxwell, the Oxford University-educated daughter of British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.
“I think of you all the time,” Wasserman wrote to Maxwell about five months after he and his wife left Africa. “So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
Maxwell, in turn, offered Wasserman a massage that can “drive a man wild.”
Wasserman is one of L.A.’s most influential figures, presiding over a sports marketing and talent agency that represents professional athletes, including star Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and scores of top musicians, such as Kendrick Lamar, Kacey Musgraves, Chappell Roan and Coldplay.
“Wasserman is in trouble,” longtime Los Angeles political observer Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said. “These Games are so important to Los Angeles — economically and politically. This will not be helpful to the city if this drumbeat continues and gets louder.”
Movie studio titan Lew Wasserman’s only grandson entered the world in 1974 as Casey Myers.
His parents, Lynne Wasserman and stockbroker Jack Myers, separated when he was 7. His father wasn’t much of a figure in his life and was later charged with money-laundering. Lew and his wife, Edie, filled the gap.
Lew R. Wasserman, chairman of MCA’s board of directors since 1973, is shown in December 1976 at an unknown location. Wasserman became president and chief executive officer of MCA Inc., later known as Universal Studios Inc., the major entertainment and communications company.
(Associated Press)
“Lew was disappointed he never had a son,” Lew Wasserman’s biographer Dennis McDougal told The Times in 2002. “In his typical fashion, by dint of his power and his money and his overbearing personality, he took what he wanted. He essentially stole Jack Myers’ son. By the time Casey was a teenager, the die was cast. He was Lew’s little boy.”
Like his famous grandfather, Casey was drawn to politics and one figure in particular: Bill Clinton.
In 1992, the then-governor of Arkansas was struggling for traction in his presidential bid and his campaign was heavily in debt when a stately door opened for him in Los Angeles.
Lew Wasserman, the godfather of modern-day Hollywood, was willing to help propel Clinton to the White House.
A larger-than-life figure, Wasserman was a onetime talent agent who clawed his way to the pinnacle of power by building an entertainment colossus with movie production, television, music and theme parks. His MCA Inc., which owned Universal, gave a young Steven Spielberg his break that became “Jaws.”
Lew and Edie Wasserman held a splashy fundraiser for Clinton in August 1992 at their Beverly Hills mansion adorned with Matisse and Degas paintings. Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Kirk Douglas were among the stars who attended the $5,000-per-plate dinner.
Lew Wasserman and Edie Wasserman attend a party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills on April 20, 1984.
(WWD / Penske Media via Getty Images)
“Lew figuratively — and literally — put his arm around Clinton, and that was very helpful,” said a former Clinton aide who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Clinton mingled with guests and gave a short speech, according to one former MCA agent who was there. Casey later told the Hollywood Reporter it was his first meeting with Clinton. He was just 18.
The event raised $1 million, according to a 1992 Times article. It also marked the beginning of a lasting friendship between the Wassermans and the Clintons — one that remains to this day, according to people close to the family.
As Wasserman aged, he was determined that his grandson would have the same high-level political access. “Lew loved Casey and he wanted him to meet a lot of the powerful people,” the former Clinton aide said.
At 21, Casey received his multimillion-dollar inheritance and changed his name to Wasserman. Two years later, he played golf with President Clinton at the Hillcrest Country Club.
After Clinton left the White House, the former president asked Lew Wasserman whether he would host a fundraising luncheon to promote the launch of his foundation.
“My grandfather said yes, ‘but only one thing: I will be there, but Casey is going to host at his house,’” Casey later said. “I was 26 at the time, and thankfully my wife — who wasn’t my wife yet — was around to help with the combined pressure of having the just ex-president and my grandparents there.
“We’ve since built an incredible friendship,” Casey said of Clinton. “I’ve been terribly lucky.”
Laura Ziffren and Wasserman Media Group CEO Casey Wasserman attend a luncheon honoring Casey at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 18, 2015, in Westwood.
(Jesse Grant / Getty Images for National Football Foundation)
Casey Wasserman and his then-wife, Laura, set off for Africa on Epstein’s jet — an aircraft that would one day gain notoriety as the “Lolita Express” — the same year his family’s foundation donated $3 million to the Clinton Library Foundation.
Joining them was an eclectic crew: Clinton and his aides, Secret Service agents, actors Spacey and Chris Tucker, businessman Ronald Burkle, and former Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, along with Epstein and Maxwell.
Several unidentified young women were also on the plane.
Kevin Spacey poses for photographers on the red carpet for the film “Father Mother Sister Brother” at the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, in August.
According to newly released FBI notes based on a telephone interview with an emergency physician who traveled with the group, about four women ages 20 to 22 were on board. Their names were redacted from the file, but according to the physician, one young woman was a masseuse, another a model and a third described herself as a ballerina.
The physician, the report said, “thought it weird that Epstein flew with his former girlfriend, Maxwell, and four other women that no one knew why they were there as everyone else had a purpose.”
According to the FBI, the physician described the jet layout as a cockpit up front, then a seating area where Clinton and his staff sat, a kitchenette, another seating area with couches and a bedroom in the back with a sliding wooden door.
At one point, the physician told the FBI, one of the unidentified passengers shut Epstein’s bedroom door abruptly, as if they “did not want him to see or hear what was going on in that bedroom.” He also said he witnessed Epstein “grab and rub” an unidentified passenger’s buttocks.
There was no evidence that Wasserman or any other passengers — who largely stayed in the front of the cabin — witnessed any inappropriate behavior.
The group’s first stop was Ghana, where they launched a program with a Peruvian economist that would establish a legal property system for the poor. Next was Nigeria, and then Rwanda and Mozambique, where they visited AIDS clinics. In South Africa, they met Nelson Mandela to recognize a project to cut the country’s youth HIV/AIDS infection rate by half in five years.
Spacey told The Times he joined Clinton on the Africa trip to raise awareness and funds for HIV/AIDS, visit clinics and communities, and spend “an unforgettable day with Nelson Mandela.”
Financier (and future convicted sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in February 2000.
(Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images)
“The work — particularly helping ensure HIV-positive pregnant women received life-saving medication — remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,” he said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that such important work has been overshadowed by the fact that the plane was provided by someone I did not know, had no association with, and never saw again.”
The Clinton Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. Clinton is scheduled to testify this month before a congressional committee — a historic appearance by a former president — to detail his dealings with Epstein.
“I have called for the full release of the Epstein files,” Clinton said Friday in a statement. “I have provided a sworn statement of what I know. And just this week, I’ve agreed to appear in person before the committee.”
After the trip, Wasserman and Maxwell kept in touch, sending each other salacious emails from various cities.
“Where are you, I miss you,” Wasserman wrote on April 1, 2003. “I will be in nyc for 4 days starting april 22 … can we book that massage now?”
“Umm — all that rubbing — are you sure you can take it?” Maxwell wrote on April 2. “The thought frankly is leaving me a little breathless. There are a few spots that apparently drive a man wild — I suppose I could practise them on you and you could let me know if they work or not?”
The pair also traded jokes. On April 6, Maxwell told him she was headed to London and could bring him back British staples: KitKat, cheddar cheese or baked beans. He passed.
“Ok, so that combo did not do it for you, what combo would then? she asked.
“You, me and not much else,” Wasserman replied.
In another exchange April 12, Maxwell told him that she was coming to L.A. and planned to stay at the Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills. Wasserman replied with a smiley face.
A month after the racy exchanges, Laura Wasserman — daughter of Hollywood legal power broker Ken Ziffren, a close friend of Lew Wasserman — gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son.
Casey Wasserman launched his eponymous talent and marketing firm in 2002, a time when sports media were soaring and athletes increasingly were celebrities. He made a calculated decision to bypass the movie business, recognizing that he would always be measured against his grandfather’s success.
Over the next few decades, the Wasserman agency expanded into a major force in entertainment. Through strategic acquisitions, Wasserman now has about 4,000 employees and has branched out into television and music representation, acquiring a diverse portfolio of clients, including the Barenaked Ladies and the Dave Matthews Band.
His influence stretched further in 2014 when then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a close friend, insisted that Wasserman’s fundraising skills and access to movers and shakers made him the perfect figure to lead L.A.’s effort to land the Summer Olympics. Three years later, L.A. secured the role as host of the 2028 Games.
Today, Wasserman is under extraordinary pressure to deliver a spectacular event to uphold the city’s tradition of excellence. The 1984 Games surpassed expectations and even turned a profit, projecting a unified and gleaming image of Los Angeles to the world.
Wasserman takes no salary as chairman of LA28, but he has received benefits, including travel and other expenses. The Games also will showcase, and perhaps boost the fortunes of, his agency’s numerous Olympic athlete clients.
His ties to corporate sponsors, politicians and sports figures have been viewed by civic leaders as crucial to the success of the Games.
Peter Chernin, former president of News Corp., left, and Casey Wasserman, chief executive officer of Wasserman Media Group, walk the grounds after a morning session during the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 2015.
(David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Even before the latest scandal, there were tensions between Wasserman and some Los Angeles politicians who are concerned that financial shortfalls in staging the $7-billion Summer Games will need to be covered by local taxpayers. Other host cities have been left with yawning deficits, prompting local political blowback. LA28 organizers have expressed confidence that the Games will be a success.
The relationship between the city and LA28 was further strained when the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published allegations in 2024 that Wasserman was a “serial cheater” who’d carried on affairs with young female staff members. Wasserman, who separated from Laura in 2021, denied the allegations.
Wasserman, at the time, was in Paris for the 2024 Games.
The sports mogul — who had helped carry the torch at the 1984 Summer Olympics in L.A. when he was 10 — had been scheduled to join Mayor Karen Bass on the Paris stage during the flag handoff at the glitzy closing ceremony televised around the world.
But Bass, who does not have the personal relationship with Wasserman that her predecessors Garcetti and Antonio Villaraigosa did, instead stepped up to the stage alone. Then she was joined by gold-medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, and they handed the flag to Tom Cruise.
Wasserman does not appear ready to bow to pressure from politicians, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who have called for him to step down as head of LA28.
Casey Wasserman, chair of the 2028 LA Olympics organizing committee, and President Trump look at Olympic medals during a signing ceremony at the White House in August.
(Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This is not about shaming him for his past indiscretions,” Hahn said. “This is about the message we are sending to Epstein survivors and to the world about our values — especially as we work to combat any sex trafficking associated with the Games.”
After the release of the latest Epstein documents, lawyers, art museum executives, a former U.K. ambassador and Slovakia’s national security advisor have resigned, apologized or stepped back from high positions. Britain’s King Charles III stripped his brother Andrew of his prince title and position in the royal family after earlier revelations of his involvement.
“The Epstein files have been so powerful in moving people off the stage,” Bebitch Jeffe said.
But Wasserman appears to still enjoy the support of LA28’s nearly three-dozen-member board, which includes actor Jessica Alba, former movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, Lakers minority owner Jeanie Buss, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Trump White House aide Reince Priebus.
Ultimately, he could weather the Maxwell controversy, hoisting the Olympic flame in 2028 — just like he did as a boy.
Email exchange shows Epstein sought to arrange meeting between top Democrat and US Virgin Islands representative.
An associate of the United States Virgin Islands’ sole representative in the US Congress asked Jeffrey Epstein for help to arrange a meeting between the politician and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to documents released by the US Justice Department.
The outreach to Epstein was made on behalf of Stacey Plaskett, the islands’ delegate to the House of Representatives, as the politician sought to lobby Schumer for relief after two hurricanes ripped through the Caribbean in 2017, according to the documents.
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“We have to help Stacey get a meeting with Schumer. Any thoughts?” Erika Kellerhals, a tax lawyer in the US Virgin Islands, wrote to Epstein in an email on January 24, 2018.
“[S]hould not be a problem need to know the reason and subject,” Epstein wrote back a few hours later.
“She has been unable to confirm a meeting with him. He is driving the disaster relief bill and has only been talking about Puerto Rico and not the [Virgin Islands]. She’s concerned we will be ignored,” Kellerhals told Epstein in response.
After his exchange with Kellerhals, Epstein sent an email to Kathy Ruemmler, a former chief counsel to US President Barack Obama, asking for help in setting up a meeting with Schumer.
“schumer is driving the puerto rico . virgin islands relief=bill. the VI congressional rep Stacey plaskett , h=s not been able to get a meeting. confirmed with him. ca= you help?” Epstein wrote to Ruemmler, who is now the chief lawyer to Goldman Sachs.
“I do not have any relations=ip with him, but let me see whether I can get to his COS,” Ruemmler said in response, referring to his chief of staff.
The emails are among some 3.5 million pages of files released last week that relate to US authorities’ investigations into Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
It is not clear if a meeting between Schumer and Plaskett went ahead, though Congress ultimately approved emergency funds for the US Virgin Islands as part of a two-year budget package passed in February 2018.
There is no public record of Schumer meeting or directly communicating with Epstein.
Schumer, Plaskett and Kellerhals did not respond to requests for comment. Ruemmler could not be reached for comment.
The email exchange with Epstein, which has not been previously reported, is the latest among numerous examples of how the disgraced financier continued to exert influence at the highest levels of politics and business long after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution with a minor.
Plaskett’s ties to Epstein have been a source of controversy for years.
Plaskett narrowly escaped censure by the House of Representatives last year over revelations that Epstein had coached her over text during a Congressional hearing in February 2019.
Shortly after Epstein was arrested for a second time in July 2019, Plaskett announced that she would donate a sum to charity equivalent to several campaign donations she had received from Epstein and his associates.
While Plaskett is a non-voting member of Congress, the Democrat participates in floor debates and sits on several influential committees, including the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Plaskett has previously denied enabling Epstein, calling him a “demon” and saying she was “disgusted by his deviant behavior”.
