LA28’s chairman, Casey Wasserman, will not resign because of the Epstein fallout

The list of politicians grew every day. Big stars from his talent agency joined the chorus calling for Casey Wasserman to resign as chairman of LA28 after emails the mogul exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files in February.

But four months after the controversy appeared to threaten his position at the helm of the effort for the first Olympic Games since 1984, Wasserman said he has never seen it the same way.

“No and yes,” Wasserman said on Thursday’s issue when asked if he was considering resigning as chairman of LA28 and if he had spoken to Mayor Karen Bass as she is one of many local politicians to resign.

When asked about the nature of any conversations he has had with Bass, Wasserman said he talks to the mayor every week if not regularly.

“Our conversations are between us,” Wasserman said in his first public comments in months. “They continue to envision and produce a fully shared vision to bring the greatest Games to our city and community.”

Bass is currently running for a second term in a hotly contested primary election. She has already advanced to November’s show, with reality TV host Spencer Pratt and City Council Member Nithya Raman vying for second place on the ballot. California will also elect a new governor with Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra leading the tight race.

When it comes to the changing of the political guard, Wasserman pointed out that the local organizing committee has seen four different managers since the bid for the Games began in 2015.

“Political change, whether it happens or not, is part of the world we live in,” said Wasserman. “And we’ve been able to and expect to continue to have good relationships with local, regional and joint partners. It can’t depend on who’s there, it has to depend on the relationships and connections we have, and our team has done a great job of maintaining that.”

Wasserman, who was appointed to oversee the Olympics by former Mayor Eric Garcetti, has hit the ground running since his name was revealed in the Epstein files. The controversy erupted during the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games, when Wasserman took part in a mandatory presentation to members of the International Olympic Committee but did not comment further publicly. In the weeks that followed, he sold his talent agency and several local politicians called for Wasserman to step down.

But the LA28 executive committee supports him, issuing a statement of support for him after an external investigation, citing “the strong leadership he has shown over the past 10 years.”

IOC members visiting LA for a regular coordination commission meeting this week gave an even stronger vote of confidence.

“This was the best CoCom ever,” said Nicole Hoevertsz, chair of the IOC coordinating commission for LA28. “The team is ready. The games are on track and the games are in the safe hands of a highly trained and talented team.”

After their seventh coordination commission visit since LA was awarded the Games in 2017, Hoevertsz and IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi hailed LA28’s unprecedented sponsorship dollars and record ticket sales as signs of success that the 2028 Games are well underway.

LA28 has signed $2 billion in funding and licensing agreements, putting its $2.5 billion goal within reach. Domestic sponsorship money is expected to be the biggest source of income for what the organizing committee has promised will be a privately sponsored Games. Ticketing and hospitality, the second largest source of revenue expected to make up a total budget of $7.1 billion, got off to a strong start with more than 4 million tickets sold in the first ticket sale earlier this year.

The second ticket drop will begin in August. Fans who have not registered before can still register at tickets.la28.org enter the lottery until July 22.

In these early stages of ticket sales, fans buy tickets within general categories of areas and not specific seats. LA28 CEO, Reynold Hoover, said that as the organizing committee gets more details about the seats in each area, fans will get their seats. The parallel arrangement of the FIFA World Cup caused an uproar when FIFA appeared to create a new category of tickets two months before the event began, angering fans who had already spent hundreds of dollars for what they believed were prime seats. Hoover said LA28 will not do the same.

“We’re not pulling out the trash and changing it,” Hoover told The Times.

Hoover said LA28 is looking at FIFA World Cup operations, particularly spectator transportation, but recognizes that the scope of the eight World Cup games in LA pales in comparison to what the organizing committee will face in 2028. The 2028 Olympic Games will be the largest in history with nearly 11,000 athletes. That event will be followed by the longest Paralympics in history and the first Paralympics in LA