Bob Chesney’s UCLA was seeking stability under the new head coach after a difficult season. However, it’s been ensnared in a national scandal due to the controversial past of one of its biggest donors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, UCLA alum Casey Wasserman has decided to sell his high-profile talent and marketing agency. The move comes after Wasserman’s email exchanges with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, were leaked.

“I’m deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort,” Wasserman wrote in a memo. “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. Heartbroken that my brief contact with them 23 years ago has caused you, this company, and its clients so much hardship over the past days and weeks,” Wasserman added.

Wasserman’s prominent clients cut ties with his firm following the email leaks. Among those leaving Wasserman’s marketing agency are Grammy winner Chappel Roan and U.S. Women’s soccer player Abby Wambach.

“I hold my teams to the highest standards and have a duty to protect them as well,” Roan said in her social media posts. The WSJ reported that Wasserman, along with his wife, flew to Africa for an HIV/AIDS project with Maxwell and Epstein in their private jet.

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Additionally, the Justice Department’s latest release revealed Wasserman’s alleged flirtatious email exchanges with Maxwell from 2003. However, Wasserman has maintained that he “never had a personal or a business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.” As per WSJ, one of the attendees of Wasserman’s Africa trip detailed that there were young women, masseuses, a model, and a ballerina for reasons “he couldn’t understand” in Epstein’s private jet.

As a 1996 UCLA graduate, Wasserman’s ties to the university are deep, translating his success as a $400 million entertainment executive into tangible support for the Bruins, most notably by funding the $65 million Wasserman Football Center.

Casey Wasserman’s connections with UCLA run deep

In 2017, Wasserman personally led a search committee that included AD Dan Guerrero and former UCLA QB Troy Aikman to find the program’s next head coach. Many reports even linked Wasserman to paying Mora’s $12 million buyout. Jedd Fisch was finally hired, but Wasserman’s deep involvement in the program’s key decisions was far from over.

“I think athletics is underestimated as a way to change people’s lives. To be able to bring young student-athletes to this university, expose them to this university through their skills and their passion,” Wasserman said after inaugurating the Football Center at UCLA. “Their success in life will not necessarily come from being athletes; it will come from being Bruins.” Wasserman reportedly shelled out $20 million for the same and has continued supporting UCLA.

Similarly, last year, when DeShaun Foster was fired mid-season, Wasserman was again on the committee to search for a new head coach. The UCLA alum, along with Washington Commanders’ GM Adam Peters, led the search and finally landed on James Madison head coach Bob Chesney. Although UCLA is, of course, a separate entity from Wasserman, the optics of the Epstein files’ link with a prominent donor aren’t ideal for the program.

The situation leaves UCLA in a precarious position, forced to weigh the benefits of its most prominent donor’s financial backing against the significant reputational damage of his association with the Epstein scandal. The program’s next move will signal whether it prioritizes its financial stability or its public image.