Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Los Angeles 2028 Olympics chief Casey Wasserman is putting his talent and marketing agency up for sale, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, following criticism for flirtatious email exchanges with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago.

Wasserman has been criticized and called on to resign as the LA28 chief after the release of messages. His firm too has lost a client, with pop star Chappell Roan saying earlier this week she was no longer represented by his company.

Wasserman has denied having a personal or business relationship with late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He has previously apologized for his association with Maxwell, saying their relationship came before her or Epstein's crimes were revealed.

Wasserman's talent agency did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

According to the Journal, Wasserman told his firm's staff in an internal memo that he felt that he had "become a distraction" to its work and had begun the process of selling the company.

"I'm deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort,” Wasserman wrote in the memo, reported by the newspaper.

"It’s not fair to you, and it's not fair to the clients and partners we represent so vigorously and care so deeply about,” he wrote.

The LA28 said earlier this week that Wasserman will remain chairman of the 2028 games after organizers conducted a review of his past interactions with Maxwell and Epstein, and found his relationship with them did not go beyond what had already been publicly documented.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

((Devika.MadhusudhananNair@thomsonreuters.com))