(Washington) The Attorney General for the District of Columbia said his office will file a civil lawsuit under US consumer law against the Washington Commanders, their owner Dan Snyder, the NFL and its commissioner Roger Goodell.
Posted at 2:35 p.m.
Attorney General Karl Racine announced his intentions at a press conference Thursday, since he believes that there was collusion in order to trap the inhabitants of the district.
Racine said the team and league violated DC’s consumer rights after learning about misconduct in the organization’s workplaces, adding that Snyder lied when he said he was unaware of this situation.
Four cards surrounded Racine during his announcement, recalling the team’s efforts to transform its brand image by including references to the DC, its flag, and the history of the NFL’s investigation into football culture. organization work.
“Dan Snyder assured supporters that he would cooperate fully with the investigation and ensured that the conclusions would be reliable, could we read on one of the cards. It was a lie: He repeatedly tried to obstruct, and the supporters could not trust the conclusions which were never revealed publicly. Because of Snyder’s veto power. »
The findings of Beth Wilkinson’s investigation were not released in July 2021, after the league fined the team $10 million for its toxic workplace culture. The last card read: “Frustration among fans escalated when it became clear that Snyder lied to them: there would be no transparency or consequences. It has had an impact on consumer decisions”.
Lawyers Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 ex-team employees, said the civil lawsuit “is further proof of what we’ve known for a long time: the Commanders and the NFL opted for deceit and lies to cover up decades of acts of sexual harassment and abuse, which have had consequences not only for the victims of these acts, but also for consumers in the District of Columbia. »
The summons for a press conference by the attorney general seemed to surprise the Commanders, according to a press release from the team’s spokesperson issued on Wednesday, who stressed that he learned of the information on social networks.
“The Commanders have cooperated wholeheartedly with the Attorney General’s investigation for nearly a year,” the spokesperson said. As of Monday, a team attorney had met with the Attorney General who suggested he had no intention of taking action at this time and, in fact, revealed fundamental misunderstandings instead. on the underlying facts. »
The Commanders are the subject of numerous investigations by the DC Attorney General, the West Virginia Attorney General, the US Congress and the NFL. League spokesman Brian McCarthy mentioned last week that the league-commissioned investigation into former U.S. Attorney General Mary Jo White is still ongoing and there are still no deadlines for completing it.
Commanders owners Dan and Tanya Snyder announced last week that they had retained Bank of America Securities to explore various options for selling the team. A spokesperson for the team repeated that “all options” were on the table for the sale of a concession whose value would reach 5.6 billion US, according to Forbes magazine.