D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced a lawsuit against embattled Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder, the team and the NFL on Thursday, alleging they conspired to defraud D.C. residents about an NFL investigation into the team’s toxic culture in the workplace and allegations of sexual assault.
“For years the team and its owner caused very real and very serious damage and then lied to avoid accountability and continue to make a profit,” Racine said Thursday. “So far they seem to have gotten away with it, but that stops today.”
The lawsuit alleges these deceptive efforts were intended to keep fans in the dark and increase profits for the team. The lawsuit refers to the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Act, which gives the Attorney General broad authority to hold individuals or a company liable for misleading customers.
The AG’s investigation began last fall and found that Snyder lied to DC residents when he denied knowing anything about allegations of a hostile work environment and sexual harassment culture within the group, according to Racine.
“In fact, the evidence shows that Snyder was not only aware of the toxic culture within his organization, he encouraged it and participated in it,” Racine said. “Sir. Snyder exerted a high level of personal control over what the Commanders did, and his bad behavior gave others permission to treat women in the same demeaning manner.”
The NFL and the Commanders launched what they called an independent investigation into the allegations, but secretly struck a deal to give Snyder control over what he could share with the public, according to the lawsuit. At the same time, Snyder and the team tried to interfere and obstruct the investigation, the suit says.
Ultimately, the NFL released a brief press release summarizing the investigation’s findings, but said they did not receive a written investigation report due to confidentiality concerns, the lawsuit states.
“Does any part of this research sound independent? Does any of this sound like responsibility?’ Racine said. “Of course not. That’s why we’re suing.”
Racine is now seeking unspecified financial penalties for each incident in which the parties lied to residents dating back to July 2020. The Attorney General said the penalties could be in the millions of dollars. The lawsuit also seeks an injunction forcing the NFL to release all findings from its 10-month investigation into the Commanders’ workplace culture.
Administrators counsel John Brownlee and Stuart Nash issued a joint statement in response to the lawsuit.
“Over two years ago, Dan and Tanya Snyder acknowledged that an unacceptable workplace culture had existed in their organization for several years and have apologized numerous times for allowing this to happen,” they said. “We agree with AG Racine on one thing: the public needs to know the truth. Although the lawsuit repeats many innuendos, half-truths and lies, we welcome this opportunity to defend the organization – for the first time – in court and prove, once and for all, what is fact and what is fiction.”
NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy dismissed the allegations as baseless.
“The independent investigation into Washington Governors’ workplace misconduct was thoroughly and thoroughly conducted by Beth Wilkinson and her law firm. After the investigation was completed, the NFL released a summary of Ms. Wilkinson’s findings and levied a record fine against the club and its property,” he said.
“We reject the legally and factually unfounded allegations made today by the D.C. Attorney General against the NFL and Commissioner Goodell and will vigorously defend against these allegations.”
The announcement is just the latest issue for the Commanders, the newly branded team mired in several major investigations. Once one of the NFL’s premier franchises, the team has had little success on the field and constant controversy off the field over the past two decades under Snyder.
Snyder announced last week that he was considering selling the team and that he and his wife had hired Bank of America Securities “to look at potential transactions.”
The allegations stem from a 2020 Washington Post report in which 15 female former Governors employees and two journalists who covered the team accused team executives of sexual harassment and verbal abuse.
After an investigation by attorney Beth Wilkinson, the NFL fined the team $10 million, and Snyder handed over control of the franchise’s day-to-day operations to his wife, Tanya Snyder.
However, the NFL refused to release the investigation’s findings, prompting Congress to become embroiled in a House Oversight Committee review. Commissioner Goodell testified before the committee in June that the Governors’ culture has been “not only unprofessional, but toxic for far too long.”
Goodell said the team had not received a written report from Wilkinson in order to protect the confidentiality of those involved in the internal investigation.
Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 former Commanders employees, released a statement praising the lawsuit and calling on the NFL to release Wilkinson’s investigation.
“Today’s civil complaint filed by the DC Attorney General against Washington Governors Dan Snyder, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell is further proof of what we have known for a long time: that both the Governors and the NFL have engages in deception and lies. to hide the group’s decades of sexual harassment and abuse, which has affected not only the victims of that abuse, but also consumers in the District of Columbia.
“The filing of this complaint also marks an important step in validating the experiences of the brave women and men who came forward and achieving, for the first time, a level of transparency about the extent of the misconduct.
“For far too long, the NFL has actively covered up the wrongdoings of the Washington Governors and shielded Mr. Snyder from accountability at every turn. The NFL must understand that sexual harassment and abuse cannot be tolerated or covered up.”
The off-field issues have also been felt by the players and the team, now sporting a disappointing 4-5 record, good for last place in the NFC East.
“Since I got here, it’s been a dark cloud over our organization,” Corner Commander Benjamin St-Juste told the Journal de Québec on Saturday. “Every time something good happens on the field, something bad happens off the field. A fresh start would give us a renewed energy and win back the trust of the fans.”
The Commanders also faced intense criticism for an inflammatory statement released Wednesday that used the August shooting of Brian Robinson Jr. to fend off the lawsuit.
Racine’s office announced Wednesday that it will hold a press conference to make an “important announcement” about the Commanders the next day. In response, the Commanders issued a statement that addressed Robinson’s shooting and criticized his hometown for “violent crime out of control.”
“Less than three months ago, a 23-year-old player on our team was shot multiple times, in broad daylight,” a Commanders spokesperson said in the statement. “Despite rampant violent crime in DC, today the Washington Governors first learned on Twitter that the DC Attorney General will hold a press conference to ‘make an important announcement’ about the organization tomorrow.
“It is unfortunate that, in his final days in office, Mr. Racine seems more interested in making risque headlines based on outlandish legal theories than doing the hard work of making the roads safe for our citizens, including of bringing to justice people who shot one of our players.”
Robinson, a rookie running back, was shot twice in an attempted armed robbery in August. He missed the first month of the season due to the injuries but has since recovered and returned to the pitch. Two teenagers were arrested last week in connection with the shooting.
Robinson’s agent, Ryan Williams, tweeted his displeasure with the Chiefs’ statement Wednesday night.
“Until an hour ago, the Commanders handled Brian Robinson’s situation with such care, honesty and order. And I was so grateful for it all,” Williams said in a tweet on Wednesday. “While I know there are some great people in this building, whoever is behind this statement is not one of them.”
Governors Chairman Jason Wright issued another statement later Wednesday, saying the earlier statement “expressed our outside counsel’s continued frustration with the Attorney General’s office.”
“The attorneys’ legitimate frustrations with the AG should have been separate and apart from the mention of the terrible crime that affected our player,” Wright said.
