Giants co-owner Steve Tisch was named in the Epstein files recently. No NFL investigation has commenced, but the longtime Giants leader is preparing to step out of his role.
Team co-owners Steve, Laurie and Jonathan Tisch have sent a request to the NFL’s finance committee to transfer their ownership stakes into their children’s trusts, according to ESPN.com’s Seth Wickersham and Jordan Raanan and The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. Steve Tisch has co-owned the Giants since 2005.
Tisch’s name is mentioned at least 440 times in the files connected to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein. Those ranged from casual to problematic. As a result, Tisch is taking a Giants exit ramp after 21 years alongside John Mara atop the organization. If/when the NFL finance committee approves the transfer, the family’s memo states Tisch would “no longer own any interest in the Giants.”
“We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments,” Tisch said earlier this year, discussing his relationship with Epstein. “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 show Epstein connecting Tisch, 76, to a number of women. Most of the duo’s correspondence appears to have taken place in 2013. Several execs and an owner informed Wickersham and Raanan they expected a Tisch update at this month’s owners meetings. While the controversial emails are undoubtedly at the root of Tisch’s Giants exit strategy, he has not been accused of any crimes. Authorities arrested Epstein on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. He was found dead in a jail cell in August 2019.
The Mara family founded the Giants in 1925; John Mara serves as the team’s president at CEO. Working in the team facility and speaking on the team’s behalf, Mara has the far more active Giants owner during his partnership with Tisch. The latter is part of the Giants’ decision-making structure, and he did sit in on coaching interviews during the franchise’s effort to lure John Harbaugh earlier this year. Tisch was believed to be the strongest Harbaugh proponent within the organization.
More to come.