The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has conveyed its concerns regarding LA Olympic leader Casey Wasserman to the organizing committee’s board, stating it is “closely monitoring the impact on our community” following recent revelations.
Mr Wasserman put his talent agency up for sale in February, shortly after the release of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
These included flirtatious emails between Mr Wasserman and Epstein’s confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, dating back more than 20 years.
USOPC chair Gene Sykes said the federation’s board discussed the issue at its quarterly meeting on Wednesday, stating, “we take the concern seriously”.
There has been no move to remove Mr Wasserman from his role in leading the Olympic effort, with decisions about his future resting with the LA board, not the USOPC’s.
LA organisers said they had no comment about the USOPC meeting. The LA committee previously said it investigated Mr Wasserman’s relationship with Maxwell, found the relationship “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented” in the Epstein files and concluded he “should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games.”
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking and abuse of minors. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Though the LA board would make any decision, the USOPC’s opinion would likely carry some weight in any discussion. There is crossover between the two; USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and members David Haggerty and Anita DeFrantz are on the LA board.
“We’re stewards of the Olympic and Paralympic movement in the United States, and we’re committed to upholding and consistently demonstrating its values,” Mr Sykes said.
He then shifted to discussing progress LA has made involving public support and corporate interest.
“I think (that’s) very encouraging,” Mr Sykes said. “The ongoing committee is executing effectively and we’re very happy to work with them.”
Separately, prices of LA28 tickets have raised eyebrows. Tickets for the 2028 Olympics went on sale earlier this month, and though organisers have touted more than 1 million for sale for $28, there were none close to that price on its website Wednesday.
The cheapest tickets left among the first major release of tickets, for which people who register are given dedicated time slots to purchase up to 12 seats, were in the $170 range for field hockey preliminaries. The cheapest tickets for an evening of medal events on a night at track and field were $1,100.
In an interview last week with The Associated Press, LA executive Allison Katz-Mayfield acknowledged the wide range of pricing and said cheaper tickets would be released later.
“It goes back to our ethos that we want to ensure there’s something for everyone, whether it’s someone who just wants to get in the door and experience the Games or someone who has a very specific sport or session and they want to sit in the absolute best seat,” she said.
“We tried to approach our inventory mix to replicate that and replicate what we saw in terms of demand from the research we did.”
