Attorney General Karl Racine announced on Thursday that his office has filed a civil suit against the Washington Commanders and team owner Daniel Snyder, the NFL and league Commissioner Roger Goodell amid multiple investigations against Snyder and his NFL franchise.
The individual club and the league as a whole were also named in the consumer protection civil lawsuit, which D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said was based on his office’s investigation that began in the fall of 2021.
“For years, the team and its owner have caused very real and very serious harm and then lied about it to dodge accountability,” Racine said, also pointing a finger at Goodell and the NFL. “They did all of this to hide the truth, protect their images and let the profits continue to roll.”
Racine said that even though the team practices in Virginia and plays its games in Maryland, it is strongly connected to Washington and violated D.C. consumers’ rights. Racine said the capital city’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act provides for fines of up to $5,000 per lie – which his office estimated could result in millions of dollars in penalties.
Washington is an accumulation of problems
When a 2020 report in The Washington Post detailed allegations of a toxic workplace, Snyder said he didn’t know about the allegations – a denial Racine called false – and the team hired lawyer Beth Wilkinson to investigate.
The filing Thursday in D.C. Superior Court says Snyder “cultivated an environment … that glorifies sexual harassment and punishes victims for speaking out.” According to the complaint, team “employees say the workplace was ‘like the mafia’ … creating a culture of fear and paranoia.”
“The misconduct did not just go to the top; it originated there,” the court filing says, noting that a former long-time team executive said employees referred to Snyder as the “Chief Harassing Officer.”
Under the alleged agreement, the NFL “provided Snyder even greater access to witnesses and the investigative team,” Racine’s office said in a statement later, “further frustrating the effort to uncover the truth” – as well as the power to decide what information the public would see.
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