The chief legal officer for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics has resigned after LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman said he would stay on as the organization’s leader despite a scandal over extramarital affairs, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
Tanja Olano, who served both as Wasserman’s top advisor and legal counsel for the city’s Olympics efforts since 2015, stepped down after Wasserman announced he will not exit his post, an individual familiar with Olano’s decision told TheWrap.
Olano posted her decision to resign in an internal Slack on Friday without giving a reason for doing so, a knowledgeable individual told TheWrap. She wrote on the LA28 operations team’ Slack: “It was an all consuming journey and I’m ready to take a break.”
An individual close to Olano said the proximity to Wasserman’s statement was coincidental: “One thing has nothing to do with the other.”
A representative for LA28 did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. Olano could not be reached.
While enshrouded in controversy since the Daily Mail published an August report on his years-long practice of chronically sleeping with female staffers, Wasserman said he was committed to the role during the second annual Game Plan Summit in Santa Monica, presented by CNBC and Boardroom.
“I’m going to do my job and do it till the end,” Wasserman told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in response to whether the scandal might prove a distraction. “I’m the one who’s got the most invested and the most capable of delivering the [best] result for the city.”
In August, the Daily Mail published a report that characterized Wasserman as a “serial cheater” who chronically sleeps with female staffers, citing a history of alleged affairs that included former secretary and chief of staff Patricia Feau, who is now vice president of host city relations for the LA28 Olympic nonprofit. The report also named Kristen Merrill, a human resources employee, as well as Jenny Chandler, a former flight attendant on his private jet, who is now his girlfriend.
Feau, who was paid $350,017 in total compensation in 2022 according to IRS tax filings, denied having an affair with Wasserman, telling the Daily Mail that her involvement in the upcoming Olympics stemmed from a desire to represent the nation as a born-and-raised Los Angeleno.
Olano was also a top earner in 2022, pulling in $693,970 from LA28, according to the IRS filings for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
“Consider the source,” Wasserman said of the Daily Mail report during CNBC x Boardroom: Game Plan Summit. “If The Daily Mail qualifies as reporting, I guess we’re all in trouble … We live in a day where people can say whatever they want, without facts, without cooperation, without sources and it is the world we live in. The wind hits the tall trees.”
Two weeks after the scandal broke, Billie Eilish, who performed in the closing ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics, dropped Wasserman as her live booking agent for herself and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, in favor of William Morris Endeavor. “While grateful to their former live booking agents at Wasserman, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell have opted to have film, TV and music handled by the same agency, WME, moving forward,” a spokesperson for Eilish told TheWrap at the time.
Olano joined the Olympics bid committee in 2015 and, upon her promotion to general counsel in 2017, she served in a key role to structure LA28’s joint venture with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committee as well as negotiate sponsorships. She was promoted to chief legal officer in 2021, then moved up to chief legal and people officer in 2022, before serving as chief administrative and legal officer beginning in February of this year.
She also served as a top advisor to Wasserman throughout preparations for the Games, even touting a Vanity Fair profile of Wasserman from February, posting on LinkedIn, “Hey — That’s my boss, the ‘master of ceremonies!’”
Olano most recently traveled to the Paris Olympics with Wasserman and girlfriend Chandler, and, according to a source familiar with the matter, played a prominent role in internally navigating her boss’ ongoing scandal.
Sharon Waxman contributed to this report.
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