The National Football League has announced it is investigating New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch after his name appeared in more than 400 emails linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The emails, released by the US justice department last week, include exchanges from 2013 in which Epstein arranged for Tisch to meet with women. Tisch, 76, has not been charged with any crime connected to the Epstein investigation.
In one 2013 email, Epstein offered to connect Tisch with a Russian woman; Tisch replied a minute later asking, 'Is she fun?' The following month, Tisch asked Epstein whether a different woman from Tahiti was a 'working girl', to which Epstein responded, 'Never.' Another email from Epstein to Tisch read: '[R]eport just in, you did very well ... [S]he wants to go to the play, she is a little freaked by the age difference but go slow ... [I] will try to convince her not to return to Ukraine. having her crying worked.'
Tisch denied any wrongdoing in a statement on Friday, describing his relationship with Epstein as a brief association about adult women, movies, philanthropy and investments. 'I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island,' Tisch said. 'As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.'
The NFL could discipline Tisch under its personal conduct policy, which requires all league personnel to refrain from 'conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in' the NFL. The policy states that it is not enough to avoid being found guilty of a crime, and that individuals are held to a higher standard. The league previously fined former Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder $60 million in 2023 for sexual harassment and financial misconduct.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on Monday that the league will examine the matter before deciding on disciplinary measures. 'We are going to look at all the facts ... and try to understand that, we will look at how that falls under the policy. But let’s get the facts first,' Goodell told reporters during his Super Bowl week press conference.
Tisch, an Oscar-winning producer of Forrest Gump, has been involved with the Giants since his father bought 50 per cent of the team in 1991. The emails were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, enacted after public pressure. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019, one month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
