- D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against the Washington Commanders and team owner Dan Snyder, as well as the NFL and its commissioner, Roger Goodell.
- Racine alleges the team and its owner, the NFL and Goodell colluded to deceive D.C. residents and fans for team’s financial gain.
- “The Commanders and the NFL secretly entered into an agreement about the investigation that the public didn’t know about,” Racine said.
On Thursday, DC Attorney General Karl Racine announced a lawsuit against troubled Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder, the team, and the NFL, charging they conspired to mislead DC citizens about an NFL investigation into the club’s poisonous workplace culture and sexual assault claims.
Thursday, Racine stated, “For years, the team and its owner have inflicted very real and very serious suffering and then lied about it to avoid accountability and continue to rake in riches.” “They may have gotten away with it thus far, but that ends today.”
The lawsuit asserts that these misleading practices were intended to mislead spectators and maximize the team’s earnings. The lawsuit cites the Consumer Protection Procedures Act of the District of Columbia, which grants the Attorney General extensive jurisdiction to hold individuals or businesses liable for deceiving customers.
According to Racine, the AG’s investigation, which began in the fall, revealed that Snyder lied to DC citizens when he denied knowing about complaints of a hostile work environment and culture of sexual harassment among the team.
“In fact, the evidence demonstrates that Snyder not only was aware of the toxic atmosphere within his firm, but also fostered and participated in it,” Racine stated. “Mr. Snyder exerted a high amount of personal control over everything the Commanders did, and his actions authorized others to treat women in the same humiliating manner.”
According to the lawsuit, the NFL and Commanders launched what they claimed was an independent inquiry into the claims, but they covertly agreed into an agreement to give Snyder control over what might be made public. The lawsuit also alleges that Snyder and his team attempted to interfere with and hinder the inquiry.
The lawsuit says that the NFL issued a brief news release summarizing the investigation’s conclusions but did not receive a written investigative report owing to confidentiality issues.
“Does any portion of this inquiry appear impartial? Does any of this ring of responsibility?” Racine said. “Of course not. Therefore, we are suing.”
Racine is currently pursuing unspecified monetary penalties for every instance in which the parties have deceived to people beginning in July 2020. According to the Attorney General, the fines could be in the millions of dollars. The complaint also wants a court order compelling the NFL to divulge all results from its 10-month inquiry into the workplace culture of the Commanders.
CNN has contacted a representative for the team, Snyder, and the NFL for comment.
The announcement is only the most recent problem for the Commanders, the newly renamed unit embroiled in multiple significant probes. Under Snyder, the team, which was once one of the NFL’s finest franchises, has had modest success on the field and has been involved in numerous scandals off of it.
Snyder revealed last week that he is contemplating a sale of the team and that he and his wife have contacted Bank of America Securities “to evaluate prospective transactions.”
