Casey Wasserman Puts Talent Agency Up for Sale as Epstein Files Fallout Triggers Client Exodus

Casey Wasserman, the grandson of legendary Hollywood dealmaker Lew Wasserman and chairman of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic organizing committee, announced late Friday that he has begun the process of selling his namesake talent and marketing agency . The decision caps a turbulent two weeks in which the mogul's past relationship with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell — exposed in the massive Epstein Files document dump released by the Department of Justice on January 30 — triggered a cascade of client departures and growing calls for his resignation from the LA28 board .

"I believe that I have become a distraction," Wasserman wrote in a memo to the company's roughly 4,000 employees, first reported by the Wall Street Journal . "That is why I have begun the process of selling the company, an effort that is already underway." Wasserman said company president Mike Watts would assume day-to-day control of operations while Wasserman himself focuses on delivering the 2028 Olympics .

The sale will encompass the full Wasserman portfolio, including the Brillstein Entertainment Partners talent management division — home to A-listers such as Brad Pitt — which the company acquired in 2023 . It also includes the massive music booking operation built through the 2021 acquisition of Paradigm Talent Agency, which transformed Wasserman from a sports-focused firm into one of the largest music agencies in the world, representing artists including Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, and Tyler, the Creator .

The exodus of clients in recent days has been swift and public. Pop star Chappell Roan was among the first major departures, writing on February 9 that "no artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values" . She was followed by Gigi Perez, Orville Peck, Wednesday, Weyes Blood, Water From Your Eyes, Beach Bunny, Local Natives, Chelsea Cutler, the Dropkick Murphys, and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, whose social media post effectively started the exodus . On the sports side, soccer hall-of-famer Abby Wambach also departed . The agency's artist roster was quietly removed from its website in recent days .

Wasserman's connections to the Epstein network are documented but limited. Records show he rode on Epstein's private jet once, during a 2002 humanitarian trip to Africa with a Clinton Foundation delegation . The more damaging revelations involved a series of suggestive emails exchanged with Maxwell in 2003, years before either Epstein or Maxwell faced criminal charges . Wasserman has apologized, saying he was "terribly sorry for having any association with either of them" .

Critics argue the apology has been insufficient. Multiple Los Angeles politicians — including County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey Horvath, City Controller Kenneth Mejia, and five members of the Los Angeles City Council — have called for Wasserman to step down from his role as LA28 chair. Despite this pressure, the LA28 board voted unanimously earlier this week to retain him, stating that his relationship with Epstein and Maxwell "did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented" .

The decision to keep Wasserman atop the Olympics organization while he divests from his business empire creates a peculiar split. Defenders of the LA28 board's position note that Wasserman's documented involvement with Epstein was far more tangential than that of other figures named in the files. His one documented flight and a handful of emails, they argue, do not rise to the level of complicity .

But for Wasserman's agency clients, the distinction between legal culpability and moral association proved untenable. The company carries his name — a fact that made continued representation untenable for artists whose brands are built on progressive values. "Coming so soon after the previous allegations, optics — particularly for a company named after its founder — can matter more than facts," Variety's Jem Aswad noted .

The reference to "previous allegations" points to a damning July 2024 report accusing Wasserman of serial affairs with junior employees over many years . Though that scandal appeared to fade, it established a pattern of personal conduct that made the Epstein revelations harder to dismiss as ancient history.

The sale of Wasserman's agency will reshape the entertainment industry's competitive landscape. The company is backed by Providence Equity Partners, and sources familiar with the situation say some agents have already been exploring whether they could purchase portions of the business themselves . Major acts like Phish have reportedly been exploring new representation .

For Wasserman personally, the Olympics remain. He has positioned the LA28 Games as his legacy project, and the board's backing gives him runway to continue in that role — for now. Whether public pressure or sponsor concerns eventually force a reckoning on that front remains an open question as the Games approach.