New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch is looking to give up his stake in the team as the NFL looks into his ties with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, according toESPN.
Tisch and his siblings Laurie and Jonathan, the children of the late Preston Robert Tisch who purchased a 50% stake in the team in 1991, are reportedly requesting to transfer their remaining stakes in the franchise to their children. Per the memo, none of them will have any interest in the team following the transactions:
"Prior transfers to these Trusts were completed pursuant to 2023 and 2024 Finance Committee approvals," the memo, dated March 11, states. "The Sellers now propose to transfer their entire remaining interests, totaling 23.1% of the Club, to the Trusts. ... Following the transactions, the Sellers will no longer own any interest in the Club."
In total,the Giants franchise was valued by Forbes at $10.1 billion last August,making it the third most valuable team in the NFL.
The moves come a month aftera series of emails between Steve Tisch and Epstein came to light in a document released by the Department of Justice.
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Tisch almost immediately released a statement minimizing the connection and disavowing Epstein's actions:
"We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments. I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with."
The emails in question were mostly from 2013, five years after Epstein was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution. There is alsoone exchange from 2017in which Tisch tells Epstein he was talking "fondly" about him with a friend and wants to "stay in touch." Epstein was charged with sex trafficking minors in 2019 and died in his cell a month later from what investigatorsruled as a suicide.
The emails themselves include numerous instances of Tisch discussing various women, all of whom he says were adults, with Epstein:
In an email exchange with the subject line "Ukrainian Girl," Tisch asks "pro or civilian?" about a woman he met through Epstein,to which Epstein responds"do you want to know if she as sweet as she seems? boyfriends? trustworthy, etc. she is earnest. is a civilian, but russian, and rarely tells the full truth , but fun."
Epstein then sends a second reply, saying "send me a number to call I dont like records of these conversations." He later tells Tisch he "did very well" with an acquaintance, who is "a little freaked by the age difference."
A different conversationhas Tisch outright asking if one woman, described by Epstein as "tahitian" and "exotic," is a "working girl."
There are more conversations, such as when Tisch asks if he "can expect 'trouble'" while discussing a visit to Epstein's house. Epstein responds by offering to invite "the russain [sic]," to which Tisch asks "Is she fun?"
The NFL responded to all of that by saying in early February it "will look into the matter to understand the facts." Lest you think that means conducting an investigation,league commissioner Roger Goodell later clarified the matter had not yet advanced to the point of a formal inquiry:
Asked to clarify if that meant Tisch was under investigation, Goodell again said the NFL would first attempt to determine the "facts" and then conclude whether they warranted an investigation.
"I don't even know the status of all the [DOJ's document] release," he said. "I know that 3 million documents came out last week. Listen, we'll continue to follow any of the facts that come up and determine if we open an investigation based on those facts."
It's unclear what the line is between an investigation and just looking into the facts of something. It's also unclear if the league will take any more steps if Tisch becomes merely the father and uncle of some Giants co-owners rather than a stakeholder himself.
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