United States women’s soccer star Abby Wambach said Wednesday that she was ending her 20-year association with the agency founded and led by Casey Wasserman following the recent release of flirtatious emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime companion of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wambach is the first athlete to publicly cut ties with the agency, which is one of the biggest in the world, with clients spanning the worlds of sports and entertainment. Wasserman is also the head of the LA28 Olympic committee and has been in Italy for the Milan Cortina Games.
“I read Casey Wasserman’s correspondences in the Epstein files,” Wambach, a two-time gold medalist and the leading career scorer in the history of the United States Women’s National Team, wrote on Instagram. “I know what I know, and I am following my gut and my values.
“I will not participate in any business arrangement under his leadership.”
Maxwell was convicted on federal charges in 2021 that she conspired with Epstein to sexually abuse teenage girls.
Wambach’s decision comes one day after pop star Chappell Roan announced she was leaving the agency. In her statement, Roan did not mention the emails directly, but she did write, “No artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values.”
Representatives for the Wasserman agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shortly after Wambach’s statement, the executive committee of the LA28 board issued a statement in which it said it had conducted a review of Wasserman’s interactions with Maxwell and Epstein and that it found that “Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”
It added, “The Executive Committee of the Board has determined that based on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has exhibited over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games.”
The email correspondence between Wasserman and Maxwell, released last month by the Justice Department, was part of a trove of files related to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who killed himself in 2019 while in jail awaiting a criminal trial on sex-trafficking charges. According to The New York Times, the emails, which were sent in 2003, occurred while Wasserman was married with a young family and long before Maxwell’s conviction.
In the emails, Maxwell offered Wasserman a massage that would “drive a man wild.” Amid other exchanges, Wasserman told Maxwell that he thinks of her all the time and asked, “What do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
Following the release of the emails, Wasserman released a statement saying, “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light.”
He added, “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.”
That has not stopped the criticism.
“Casey should resign,” Wambach wrote in her statement. “He should leave, so more people like me don’t have to. I am unclear of my next steps. That’s OK with me. I just know where I can’t be.”
On its website, the agency boasts that it represents more than 30 No. 1 picks in the MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL, NWSL and WNBA drafts. It claims to have secured over $5 billion in marketing deals for its clients and 200-plus Emmy Award wins for broadcast and media clients.
Other notable athletes represented by the Wasserman agency include Dallas Wings rookie of the year guard Paige Bueckers, former three-time WNBA champion Diana Taurasi, Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro defensive end Maxx Crosby and Premier League Hall of Famer Steven Gerrard, among a litany of others.
Prominent music artists include Coldplay, Tyler, The Creator and Kendrick Lamar.