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A parade of powerful people have been paying the price for their ties to Jeffrey Epstein and now they are joined by Casey Wasserman, CEO of Wasserman talent agency and chairman of the LA28 Olympic committee.

It took just a week for Wasserman – rich, powerful and connected – to fall from his perch at the top of the talent agency that he founded and led after the exposure of some sex-soaked emails with convicted trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

In a news-packed update to her insider reporting, our Sharon Waxman shares today that some in Hollywood were taken aback at Wasserman’s decision to sell his stake on Friday. In fact, Wasserman intended to ride out the scandal after issuing an apology for his association with Maxwell and taking Jeffrey Epstein’s plane. But behind the scenes, Providence Equity Partners, the private equity firm that owns 60+% of the agency wasn’t having it.

Providence told Wasserman he needed to sell his 40ish percent of the agency, two insiders told me. They will then sell the agency, probably broken into pieces of sports, music and movie/television talent.

A source close to Providence said they were not looking to sell or break the agency into parts. But that seems unlikely because that would disqualify a number of likely buyers. Ari Emanuel is interested in the music division but can’t take the sports asset. UTA is interested in both the sports and music but by law can't own the TV/film management business.

Wasserman had been seeking a CAA-like valuation of 14-15x valuation on the company, which produces about $100 million in profit and $700 million in revenue each year. But now he'll be selling his stake back to Providence at a fire sale price.

“This was the dam bursting,” said one individual who knows the agency business well. “These [music] agents pride themselves on being decent family people ... So this is against everything they stand for, on top of last year’s trash.”

Curiously, even as Wasserman prepares to exit the agency he founded, he remains chairman of LA28, the face of the organizing committee for the high-profile Olympics. Despite continued support now, we'll see how long LA28 will be able to resist the growing pressure to distance itself from the embattled figure, especially after LA Mayor Karen Bass called for him to step down.

Roger Cheng
Managing Editor of Business and PRO
roger.cheng@thewrap.com

THE FALL OF CASEY WASSERMAN 

It's been a lightning-fast collapse for Wasserman, and the speed of the fall may have as much to do with the enemies he's made in Hollywood as his presence in the Epstein files...

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