Casey Wasserman to sell talent agency that is home to host of Irish stars, amid Epstein Files fallout
The sports and entertainment talent agent said in a memo to staff that he had "become a distraction" to the company's work and had started the process to sell the firm.Mike Watts, a long-time executive, would take on day-to-day control of the business, he said in the memo obtained by Bloomberg News.Some of Ireland’s best-known personalities are signed to the global music and sports agency.Several international music stars and athletes have left the talent agency, among them singer Chappell Roan and American soccer player and coach Abby Wambach.The Irish Independent last week made efforts to contact a number of people represented by Wasserman in Ireland.News in 90 seconds, Sunday February 15 The list includes former footballer Robbie Keane, Grammy-award winner Cian Ducrot, back-to-back Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Kellie Harrington and former Irish rugby stars turned pundits Rob Kearney and Conor Murray.Also on the list are Olympic rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, folk band The Mary Wallopers, RTÉ sports presenter Jacqui Hurley, sports commentator and activist Joanne O’Riordan and musician SexyTadhg (Tadhg Griffin).It comes after Wasserman's name came up in the trove of Epstein-related documents and emails released last month by the US Justice Department.The files contained flirtatious 2003 email exchanges between Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell.Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting girls for sexual abuse by Epstein and for participating in some of the assaults.Wasserman's presence in the Epstein files also prompted some Los Angeles politicians to call for him to step down from the city's 2028 Olympic organising committee, which he headed.The LA28 committee said Wasserman's relationship with Epstein and Maxwell "did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented," and he will remain in the role.Wasserman has said he went on a 2002 humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation and travelled on Epstein's plane. He said he never had a personal or business relationship with Epstein and apologised for having any association with either Maxwell or Epstein.“I'm deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort,” he wrote. “It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to the clients and partners we represent so vigorously and care so deeply about.”Wasserman said he will devote his “full attention to delivering Los Angeles an Olympic Games in 2028 that is worthy of this outstanding city”.The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on Wasserman's memo to employees.The agency represents a large cohort of rugby stars in Ireland, but the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said that was a matter for the players.It said in a statement to the Irish Independent last week: “Player representation is solely a matter for each individual player.“They independently choose their own agent or management company and the IRFU has no involvement in, influence over or responsibility for those private arrangements.”
