New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch is looking to relinquish his stake in the team as the NFL investigates his ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, ESPN reports.
Tisch and his siblings Laurie and Jonathan, the children of the late Preston Robert Tisch, purchased 50% of the team in 1991 and reportedly requested that the team’s shares be transferred to their children. According to the memo, neither would have any interest in the team following the trade.
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The seller reportedly owns 23.1% of the Giants. Last August, Forbes valued the team at $10.1 billion, making it the third most valuable team in the NFL.
A month ago, a document released by the Justice Department exposed a series of emails between Steve Tisch and Epstein.
Tish almost immediately issued a statement minimizing the connection and denying Epstein’s actions:
“We had a brief relationship and exchanged emails about adult women, in addition to discussing movies, philanthropy and investing. I did not accept any of his invitations and have never been to his island. We both now know that he is a horrible person and I deeply regret being associated with him.”
Most of the emails in question are from 2013, five years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting children for prostitution. In a 2017 exchange, Tish told Epstein that he was talking to a friend “lovingly” about him and wanted to “stay in touch.” Epstein was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors and died in his cell a month later in what investigators ruled a suicide.
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The emails themselves contain numerous instances of Tisch discussing various women with Epstein, all of whom he said were adults:
In one email with the subject line “Ukrainian Girl,” Tish asked “Professional or civilian?” About a woman he met through Epstein, Epstein responded: “You want to know if she is as cute as she looks? Has a boyfriend? Trustworthy, etc. She is serious. A civilian, but Russian, who rarely tells the whole truth, but is funny.”
Epstein later sent a second response, saying, “Send me a phone number, I don’t like the record of these conversations.” He later told Tisch that he was “getting along great” with an acquaintance who was “a little intimidated by the age difference.”
In a separate conversation, Tish pointedly asked a woman whom Epstein described as “Tahitian” and “exotic” if she was a “career girl.”
There were more conversations, such as Tish asking if he “would get in ‘trouble'” while discussing a visit to Epstein’s home. Epstein responded by actively inviting “Russians” [sic]”, Tish asked “Is she interesting?” “
The NFL responded by saying it “will investigate this matter to learn the facts.” Lest you think this meant there was an investigation, league commissioner Roger Goodell later clarified that the matter had not progressed to the point of a formal investigation:
When asked to clarify whether this meant Tisch was under investigation, Goodell again said the NFL would first try to determine “the facts” before reaching a conclusion whether an investigation is warranted.
“I don’t even know how everyone is doing [DOJ’s document] “Publish,” he said. “I know three million documents were released last week. Look, we’re going to continue to look at any facts that come out and decide whether to open an investigation based on those facts.”
It’s unclear what the line is between an investigation and an investigation of the facts. It’s unclear whether the league will do more once Tisch is merely the father and uncle of some Giants co-owners rather than an interested party.
