jeffrey epstein

A top Los Angeles politician said Tuesday that LA 2028 Olympics committee chair Casey Wasserman should resign following revelations about racy emails he exchanged with convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.

“I think Casey Wasserman needs to step down,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who along with other L.A. politicians is working with the LA28 Olympics organizing committee on planning of the Games.

“Having him represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous effort needed to prepare for 2028,” said Hahn, who represents an area of south Los Angeles County that includes coastal neighborhoods.

A representative for Wasserman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wasserman and other top officials with LA 2028, which is in charge of paying for and planning the Games, are in Italy for meetings ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Hahn’s comments follow the release of investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein released last week by the Justice Department that include personal emails exchanged more than 20 years ago between Wasserman and Maxwell, Epstein’s former romantic partner.

In emails sent in March and April 2003, Wasserman — who was married at the time — writes to Maxwell about wanting to book a massage and wanting to see her in a tight leather outfit.

She offers to give him a massage that can “drive a man wild,” and the pair discuss how much they miss each other, according to files released and posted online by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a statement released Saturday, Wasserman said he regretted his correspondence with Maxwell, which he said occurred “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,” he said in the statement.

The Daily Mail in 2024 published an extensive story on Wasserman’s alleged affairs during his marriage with Laura Ziffren, whom he divorced. He denied the accusations.

Feb. 3 (UPI) — House Republicans gave former President Bill Clinton and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a deadline of noon Tuesday to clarify the terms under which they plan to testify in an investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The former first couple agreed Monday evening to testify in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee probe. Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and the Clintons have repeatedly butted heads as they negotiate the details of the testimony.

The Clintons have “been so dishonest about the negotiation process, and their attorneys have been so dishonest about the negotiation process,” Comer told The Hill on Tuesday.

“We sent the terms, which are the basic standard terms of a congressional deposition … They have to sign it, and then if they sign it, then we agree to terms, and we’ll be deposing the Clintons in the month.”

Angel Urena, a spokesperson for former President Clinton, called Comer disingenuous amid the negotiations Monday.

The Clintons “negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” Urena said in a post on X. “But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said if the Clintons don’t sign the terms by the noon deadline, Republicans will move forward with holding them in criminal contempt of Congress.

“We’re holding off until noon,” Johnson said. “They have a deadline until noon to work out the details, and if it’s not done satisfactorily, then we’ll proceed with the contempt.”

Republican leader Steve Scalise said Republicans would hold a contempt vote Wednesday if need be.

Unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations told Politico and The Hill that the committee wants the Clintons to accept the terms under which they were initially subpoenaed in the case — transcribed, filmed depositions with no time limits.

Bill Clinton, however, seeks to narrow the focus of the testimony to “matters related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein.” He also didn’t want a transcribed interview, but instead a deposition under oath, and sought a 4-hour time limit.

Hillary Clinton sought a secondary sworn declaration instead of appearing in person for a deposition.

The committee issued subpoenas in August compelling the Clintons to testify. Bill Clinton is a former associate of the late Epstein but said he broke off relations with the disgraced financier in the early 2000s before his crimes became publicly known. Hillary Clinton has said she doesn’t recall ever speaking with Epstein.

Democrats have accused the Republican-led committee of trying to focus on the Clintons as part of President Donald Trump‘s pursuit of investigations of political rivals and to deflect from Epstein’s relationships with notable Republicans, including the sitting president.

Controversial director Brett Ratner, whose documentary “Melania,” about the first lady, premiered last week, found himself in the headlines once again over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

A photograph, part of the trove of files released Friday in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Epstein, shows Ratner sitting on a couch with his arms wrapped around a woman, whose identity is concealed. She is sitting next to Epstein and a second woman, who is also redacted in the photo and is sitting at the far end of the couch next to the disgraced financier. It is unclear where the photo was taken or when.

The filmmaker is among several prominent individuals from the worlds of entertainment, technology, politics and business — including L.A. Olympics boss Casey Wasserman — who have turned up among the millions of files that the Justice Department has released.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in Manhattan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Ratner’s name also surfaces in a number of emails contained in the released files in which Epstein discusses his attempts to connect with the director and descriptions in which their social circles overlap.

It is not the first time Ratner turned up in Epstein’s orbit. In December, his photo appeared in an earlier batch of files the department released.

In the undated photograph, Ratner is seen seated, hugging a shirtless Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and an Epstein associate.

Brunel died of an apparent suicide in 2022 in a French prison while awaiting trial on charges that he had raped a minor.

Ratner has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

A spokesperson for the director did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During a Monday appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Ratner said that the recently released photograph was taken about 20 years ago. He said that the woman he is hugging was his then-fiancée, whom he declined to name, and that she had invited him to an event where the picture was taken.

“I’ve never been in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and never in contact with him after,” he said on the show.

Among the emails in which Ratner is mentioned, in December 2010, Epstein discusses a dinner he is having at “7:30” in which he says that he has invited Ratner but has not yet heard back.

In December 2010, it was widely reported that Epstein hosted a dinner at his Manhattan townhouse just months after he finished serving a prison sentence and house arrest for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The dinner was attended by a number of boldfaced names including Woody Allen and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew.

A year later, Epstein’s assistant appears to email Ratner saying, “Jeffrey would like to speak with you regarding [redacted] could you please give us a call.” It is unclear whether Ratner followed up.

In another heavily redacted email from 2018, Epstein writes to someone saying: “Hi I’m Jeffrey. brett Ratner thought we should meet.” He follows up with a second email asking whether Ratner had spoken to this person yet.

During the Cannes film festival in 2012, celebrity superpublicist and ubiquitous presence on the awards circuit Peggy Siegal emailed Epstein that she was sitting with Ratner about to watch a Roman Polanski documentary, adding that “Brett says ‘hi’ and he loves you!”

In other gossipy emails Siegal sent to Epstein, she cites Ratner in her listing of which power brokers and celebrities are in attendance at various parties and who is staying on whose yacht in St. Barts (Ratner, she wrote, was staying with his business partner, the Australian billionaire James Packer).

Siegal’s relationship with the convicted pedophile came under renewed scrutiny in 2019 after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, particularly as she helped facilitate his return to society following his prison sentence.

“Had I known that he had been accused of abusing underage girls, I would not have maintained a friendship with him,” she told the Hollywood Reporter.

Siegal could not be immediately reached for comment.

On Nov. 1, 2017 — the day The Times published its investigation in which six women accused Ratner of sexual misconduct — Epstein emailed lawyer Reid Weingarten: “brett ratner now oy.”

Ratner’s career was derailed nine years ago after The Times published detailed allegations against the director made by multiple women who accused him of harassment, groping and forced oral sex. Actor Olivia Munn claimed that Ratner masturbated in front of her when she delivered a meal to his trailer on the set of the 2004 film “After the Sunset.”

At the time, the director’s attorney Martin Singer rejected the women’s claims, saying that his client “vehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations that have been reported about him.”

Ratner’s agents at WME dropped him, as did his publicist, and projects were put on hold. Ratner parted ways with Warner Bros.

“I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved,” he said in a statement.

In 2020, Ratner became embroiled in another Hollywood sex scandal, involving British actor Charlotte Kirk.

In a sworn court declaration, Kirk said she was victimized by then-Warner Bros. Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara, Ratner, Packer and Millennium Films CEO Avi Lerner, stating that the men “coerced me into engaging in ‘commercial sex’ for them and their business associates.”

Singer, who represented the men, “categorically and vehemently” denied any wrongdoing on the part of his clients.

“Melania” is the first film Ratner has directed since he was largely exiled from Hollywood. The documentary has received harsh reviews from critics, who have also questioned the $75 million Amazon paid to distribute and market the movie. However, during its opening weekend, it grossed a better-than-expected $7.1 million at the box office.

Feb. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Trevor Noah over a joke the comedian made while hosting Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.

“It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$,” Trump said Sunday night in a statement on his Truth Social media platform.

Trump frequently pursues lawsuits against critics and media organizations over comments he says damaged his reputation, drawing criticism from opponents who accuse him of trying to silence dissent.

Noah, a South African comedian who has hosted the Grammy Awards since 2021, attracted the ire of the American president with a joke about Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

After awarding singer Billie Eilish the song of the year award, Noah remarked: “That is a Grammy every artist wants — almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”

There is no verified evidence that either president visited Epstein’s Little Saint James Island, which has been linked to sex crimes committed by Epstein against minors.

“Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!” Trump said in his statement.

“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.”

Trump and Epstein, who died in jail by apparent suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking charges, were friends dating back to the 1980s. The American president said in July that they had a falling out in the early 2000s after Epstein “stole” spa staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort including Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April.

On Friday, the Justice Department released millions of pages from its investigation into Epstein. Included in the documents were unverified claims and allegations submitted to the FBI that mention Trump in connection with alleged sex crimes involving minors.

Trump has denied wrongdoing. Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that allegations included in the documents against Trump and others were “very quickly determined to not be credible.”

The latest cache of investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein released Friday include personal emails exchanged more than 20 years ago between Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA28 Olympics organizing committee, and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former romantic partner.

In emails sent in March and April 2003, Wasserman — who was married at the time — writes about wanting to see Maxwell in a tight leather outfit, she offers to give him a massage that can “drive a man wild,” and the pair discuss how much they miss each other, according to files released and posted online by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Representatives for Wasserman did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Friday.

In an email sent on March 14, 2003, Maxwell describes a “tight leather flying outfit” she wore recently and said she was thinking of Wasserman in inappropriate moments. He wrote back, “I think of you all the time … So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”

She then promises him, “Casey — I will be coming back to NY tom late afternoon. I shall be wearing a tight leather flying suit …”

Newly released Epstein files show emails exchanged between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell in March and April 2003.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

The exchange, part of a trove of documents about Epstein released on Friday, reveal that Wasserman was at one time friendly with Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on five counts related to sex trafficking and the abuse of minors in partnership with Epstein.

Other documents show that Wasserman and his then wife flew on Epstein’s private jet in September 2002 alongside Maxwell, Epstein, former President Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey and several others as part of a 10-day trip to explore the problems of HIV in Africa. (That trip had been documented in a 2003 Vanity Fair story).

During her trial, federal prosecutors established that Maxwell and Epstein — who died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019 — were engaged in a sex-trafficking scheme involving minors from the late 1990s through the early 2000s.

In an April 2, 2003, email to Wasserman, Maxwell offers to “continue the massage concept into your bed … and then again in the morning … not sure if or when we would stop.”

Newly released Epstein files show emails exchanged between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell in March and April 2003.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

Later that day she writes, “Umm — all that rubbing — are you sure you can take it? The thought frankly is leaving me a little breathless. There are a few spots that apparently drive a man wild — I suppose I could practice them on you and you could let me know if they work or not?”

A few days later, Maxwell tells Wasserman that “JE” says she should pick a week to go to Los Angeles and look at properties they can rent in Malibu that summer and offers to bring Wasserman something from Paris.

Wasserman wrote back, “I think you picking a week to be in LA is a really good idea … The only thing i want from paris is you”

The pair continue their exchange on April 6, with Maxwell then offering to bring him food from London such as KitKats, cheddar and baked beans to which he says, “Among all my desires, that combination is pretty low on the list … xoxo”

She asks him what combination would do it for him and he says “You, me, and not else much …”

Wasserman then explains the concept of June gloom, California’s famous seasonal fog, and Maxwell inquires whether it would be foggy enough “so that you can float naked down the beach and no one can see you unless they are close up?”

He responds, “or something like that …”

Newly released Epstein files show emails exchanged between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell in March and April 2003.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

Wasserman, a UCLA alumnus, is the grandson of Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman. He built his own fortune through his sports marketing and talent agency Wasserman, which represents more than 30 No. 1 overall picks in major sports leagues including the MLB, NFL, NBA and WNBA. In 2023, the agency acquired Brillstein Entertainment Partners, a management production company that represents stars such as Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt and launched hit shows that included “The Sopranos.”

Wasserman was recruited by former Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017 to help Los Angeles win its Olympic host bid. While Garcetti completed his mayoral term and faded from the Olympic spotlight, Wasserman remains the face of the city’s push to host a successful Games in 2028. He has led every major Olympic update presented to the IOC and met multiple times with President Trump to secure his support.

Wasserman is expected to join an LA28 delegation in Italy for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the final Games before L.A.

Epstein, 66, was once a well-connected financial consultant who rubbed shoulders with many prominent politicians and celebrities, including Trump and Clinton. He was arrested and taken into federal custody in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

The indictment alleged that, between 2002 and 2005, Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls at his homes in Manhattan, N.Y., and Palm Beach, Fla., and other locations, by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him for cash. It also alleged Epstein paid several of his victims to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts.

The latest documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was enacted after months of public and political pressure and requires the government to open its files on the late financier and Maxwell. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents in the latest disclosure, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

Times staff writer Jenny Jarvie and the Associated Press contributed to this report.