‘Deception,’ Lies’: DC Attorney General Suing Commanders, NFL, Goodell

By Barry Janoff

UPDATED November 17, 2022: ESPN: The District of Columbia's attorney general on Thursday filed a second lawsuit against the Washington Commanders, alleging that the team has cheated its residents out of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in unreturned security deposits for season-ticket holders.

D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine said in a statement that Commanders executives engaged in "egregious mismanagement and illegal conduct." Full story here.

November 10, 2022: Stating that "the NFL was never serious about overseeing a thorough and complete investigation into (Dan) Snyder and the Team’s misconduct," Karl Racine, attorney general for Washington D.C., said today his office is suing NFL Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder, the Commanders, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL itself for “colluding to deceive District residents — the heart of the Commanders’ fanbase — about an investigation into toxic workplace culture.”

The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia said via its Web site that the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act “prohibits unfair and deceptive trade practices. OAG has broad authority under the CPPA to hold accountable any company or any head of a company if they mislead or lie to District consumers, regardless of where they are located.”

According to Racine via the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia Web site and his social media platform, “After public reporting revealed that sexual misconduct, harassment, and misogyny ran rampant for decades at the team, the defendants promised DC residents that the league was going to fix this toxic culture, including by fully cooperating with an independent investigation.

“Instead, the NFL turned a blind eye to Snyder’s extensive efforts to silence or intimidate witnesses, and the NFL and Commanders entered into a secret agreement that gave Snyder power to veto the release of any results.”

According to the complaint, “The course of Defendants’ conduct suggests the NFL was never serious about overseeing a thorough and complete investigation into Snyder and the Team’s misconduct.”

After the news became public, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said via the league, "We reject the legally unsound and factually baseless allegations made today by the D.C. Attorney General against the NFL and Commissioner Goodell and will vigorously defend against those claims."

Snyder, who has been under pressure to sell the franchise, last week said he has retained Bank of America Securities to “explorer” selling part or all of the team.

The Commanders are valued at $5.6 billion, according to Forbes.

"The Snyders remain committed to the team, all of its employees and its countless fans to putting the best product on the field and continuing the work to set the gold standard for workplaces in the NFL," Commanders executives said via the team.

According to the full attorney general complaint of nearly 50 pages, the term “gold standard” would be called a misnomer.

“In a series of articles between July 16, 2020, and October 16, 2020, the Washington Post provided detailed reporting on allegations from more than a dozen women, including former cheerleaders and employees, of extensive and prolonged sexual harassment and verbal abuse while at the Team,” read the complaint.

“In order to sell expensive tickets and merchandise and maintain the team as a profitable part of the League, Defendants need the Team to inspire public confidence and fan loyalty. But Defendants repeatedly attempted to bolster such confidence and loyalty through artful deception to the detriment of District consumers.”

According to the AG, “To continue rebuilding public confidence, the Team and the NFL quickly sought to allay consumers’ concerns by launching an independent investigation and promising full cooperation so the results would be unbiased.

“The Team hired a well-known attorney, Beth Wilkinson, to conduct an ‘independent third-party investigation into allegations about (the Team’s) culture and incidents of harassment.’ Snyder stated publicly that Wilkinson was ‘empowered to do a full, unbiased investigation and make any and all requisite recommendations.’

“As allegations continued to surface against Snyder and the Team, the NFL (via Commissioner Goodell) initially supported the Team’s continued oversight of the Wilkinson Investigation.

“The NFL then assumed control of the investigation and Snyder promised this move was ‘so that the results are thorough, complete and trusted by the fans, the players, our employees and the public.’

Racine said, “We’re standing up for DC residents who were lied to and deceived. And we’re standing with the brave victims and employees of the team who told us the truth during our investigation and came forward about what they suffered and witnessed while working.”

With this lawsuit, the Office of the Attorney General said it is seeking:

• Financial penalties under the CPPA for every incident in which the Commanders, Snyder, the NFL, and Goodell lied to District residents dating back to July 2020. The defendants could face millions of dollars in penalties.

• A Court order forcing the NFL to release the findings from attorney Beth Wilkinson’s 10-month independent investigation into the Commanders’ workplace culture, to give the fans and the public the truth and information they expected.

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