Jonathan Tisch

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 and his two siblings have co-owned the Giants since 2005.

Tisch’s name is mentioned at least 440 times in the files connected to sex offender Jeffrey 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.” This will mark the third and final transfer of the Tischs’ trusts, with Raanan indicating previous transfers to his children’s trusts occurred in 2023 and 2024.

“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, 77, to a number of women. Most of the duo’s correspondence appears to have taken place in 2013. Epstein had already served prison time for sex crimes by that point, beginning that sentence in 2008. 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. Described previously as a silent partner, the latter is part of the Giants’ decision-making structure. Though Tisch has not spoken publicly about the Giants since 2020, 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.

Among a number of high-profile figures mentioned in the Epstein files, Tisch is a partner at Escape Artists, a film production company, and has produced several movies — including Forrest Gump and Risky Business. The New Jersey native has sat as the Giants’ chairman of the board; his brother, Jonathan, is the team’s treasurer. One of Jonathan’s sons, Charles, works in the Giants’ football ops department as an administration manager.

The Maras and Tisches each own a 45% stake in the Giants, according to NJ.com’s Darryl Slater. The other 10% was sold, as the NFL began to allow private equity investments in teams, in 2025. The Tisches’ stake is valued at $2.31 billion, Slater adds.