Steve Tisch, family planning to transfer Giants ownership stakes to children: Memo

Almost six weeks after the release of emails showing that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein connected Steve Tisch with several women, the New York Giants co-owner and chairman is planning to transfer his stake in the team to his children.

A memo Wednesday notified NFL executives that Tisch and his siblings, Jonathan Tisch and Laurie Tisch, have requested approval to transfer their remaining 23.1 percent share of the Giants into trusts for their children.

“Following the transactions, the Sellers will no longer own any interest in the Club,” the memo said.

However, the ownership transfer may not signal a substantive change in the Giants’ operations. A team spokesperson told The Athletic that Steve Tisch’s involvement with the team — even if the league’s finance committee approves the transfer — is “status quo.” Asked if that meant Tisch would remain involved with the team, the spokesperson responded: “Correct.”

The memo said that additional Tisch family ownership stakes — Preston Robert Tisch, Steve’s father, purchased 50 percent of the team in 1991 — had been transferred to the children’s trusts in 2023 and 2024. The Mara family is the team’s other majority shareholder. The Koch family bought a 10 percent stake in the team last year.

Tisch didn’t immediately respond to calls requesting comment. The NFL declined to comment.

The Athletic first reported the emails between Epstein and Tisch that were among more than three million documents the Justice Department released in January. Their exchanges — most from 2013, five years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution — revealed a chummy, transactional dynamic where Epstein introduced Tisch to at least four women.

After the emails became public, Tisch issued a statement characterizing his relationship with Epstein as a “brief association” consisting of discussions about “adult women,” as well as movies, philanthropy and investments. He said he never traveled to Epstein’s infamous island.

“As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with,” Tisch’s statement said.

The emails show a closer connection. Epstein and Tisch had breakfast in April 2013 after a mutual acquaintance forged an introduction. At the time of the breakfast, Epstein had already been sued several times by sex abuse victims, served 13 months of work-release custody and registered as a Level 3 sex offender, the highest risk to reoffend.

Epstein soon began connecting Tisch with women, some of whom they discussed in crude terms: “a 10 ass,” “pro or civilian” and “working girl.”

After Tisch connected with one of the women, Epstein applauded his performance: “report just in, you did very well, she 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.”

“I am happy to have you as a new but obviously shared interest friend,” Epstein wrote Tisch.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said during a pre-Super Bowl news conference last month that the league would “look at all the facts” regarding Tisch’s emails with Epstein. “We’ll continue to follow any of the facts that come up, and we’ll determine whether we open an investigation or not based on those facts,” Goodell said.

The league hasn’t commented on the situation since, but the Epstein-Tisch correspondence has prompted questions at the federal level.

When asked during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month if the emails warranted further investigation into Tisch’s connection to Epstein, Attorney General Pam Bondi responded: “We will look into anything.”

Dianna Russini and Alex Andrejev contributed reporting to this story.