Dan Snyder stays within the news regardless of now not proudly owning the Washington Commanders.
Snyder selling the team to a bunch led by Josh Harris and including Magic Johnson in July for a North American skilled sports activities report $6.05 billion got here with the NFL fining him $60 million for sexual harassment and fiscal improprieties.
On Wednesday, the rating Democrat at the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform wrote a letter to the Republican chair in price asking him to refer Snyder to the Department of Justice for mendacity below oath.
Snyder’s possession used to be below hearth lengthy earlier than he and spouse Tanya even regarded as striking the group up on the market. Some focused round a lack of success on the field: two playoff sport victories since he purchased the group in 1999.
But occasions clear of soccer put extra warmth on Snyder, with a sequence of scandals and investigations that spanned 3 other group names.
A look at what Snyder has long gone via up to now three-plus years to guide up to now:
JULY 2020
Amid a countrywide reckoning over racism within the wake of the George Floyd protests, distinguished sponsors FedEx, PepsiCo, Nike and Bank of America called on the team to desert its outdated title, which Snyder lengthy vowed by no means to do. The group launched a review and on July 13 saying it used to be giving up the name after 87 years.
Three days later, the Washington Post reported that 15 female former employees said they were sexually harassed right through their time with the group.
The group retained lawyer Beth Wilkinson’s company to habits an unbiased investigation into place of job habits, which the NFL then took regulate of overseeing.
The subsequent day, Snyder vowed to improve the culture throughout the group, and the league stated it might watch for Wilkinson’s assessment earlier than taking any motion.
A week later, the membership rebranded temporarily because the Washington Football Team, a reputation that lasted two seasons.
AUGUST 2020
The Post reported additional examples of place of job sexual harassment throughout the group, together with allegations that Snyder used to be for my part concerned.
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021
In overdue March, Snyder bought out his minority owners, a transfer that gave his circle of relatives overall regulate of the group. Snyder’s utility for a debt waiver of $450 million used to be authorized through the league’s finance committee after which possession at-large to make it legitimate.
JULY 2021
The NFL fined the team $10 million and stated Snyder would step clear of daily operations for a number of months after Wilkinson’s investigation discovered Washington’s place of job to be poisonous and unprofessional, particularly for ladies.
The group didn’t lose any draft alternatives, and no formal suspensions had been passed out. The league stated Snyder’s spouse, Tanya, would suppose formal operations whilst he labored on long-term problems such because the seek for a brand new stadium.
OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2021
Amid calls from former staff for the NFL to unlock the findings of Wilkinson’s investigation, contributors of the U.S. Congress were given concerned.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat who’s chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who’s chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, wrote to Goodell on Oct. 21 in quest of all paperwork and communications associated with the investigation.
A couple of weeks later, the pair of representatives suggested the NFL and the group to unlock folks from non-disclosure agreements that may save you them from discussing sexual harassment and place of job problems at the membership.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022
The House Oversight Committee introduced Jan. 27 it might hang a roundtable dialogue the next week with former staff to talk about place of job misconduct and sexual harassment.
Washington unveiled its new name as the Commanders on Feb. 2.
During the roundtable the next day to come, some of the former staff came forward with a new allegation she used to be sexually burdened through Snyder himself, which he denied. Tiffani Johnston, who labored for the group for 8 years beginning in 2002 as a cheerleader and advertising supervisor, instructed the committee Snyder positioned his hand on her thigh with out her consent at a group dinner and that he driven her towards his limousine along with his hand on her decrease again.
The committee endured to push for the entire unlock of the Wilkinson file, asking Goodell to unlock the entire findings through Feb. 14 and perilous “alternate means of obtaining compliance” if he didn’t cooperate.
At the Super Bowl in Los Angeles, Goodell defended the NFL’s use of an oral, no longer written, file, announcing it used to be achieved to offer protection to the id of any person who sought after to talk to investigators privately, additionally announcing the league would take over an investigation into the brand new allegation of sexual harassment made towards Snyder.
The league hired former U.S. Attorney and Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White to analyze.
APRIL 2022
The House Oversight Committee told the Federal Trade Commission the group will have engaged in doubtlessly illegal monetary habits, and the NFL stated it might look into essentially the most severe allegations.
The committee stated it discovered proof of misleading trade observe over the span of greater than a decade, together with withholding price tag earnings from visiting groups and refundable deposits from enthusiasts. A league spokesman stated White would assessment the alleged improprieties, which the group denied a week later in a long letter to the FTC.
JUNE 2022
On June 1, the committee invited Snyder and Goodell to seem at a listening to on place of job tradition across the NFL scheduled for later within the month, which it referred to as your next step within the investigation.
Two weeks later, a lawyer representing Snyder said he would not testify.
On June 9, the Virginia General Assembly abandoned for the rest of the year a stadium deal that may have introduced the Commanders’ video games to the state. The regulation providing hefty tax incentives had already been languishing amid a sequence of controversies involving the group when an assistant trainer referred to as the Jan. 6 rebel at the Capitol “a dust-up.”
Goodell testified virtually on June 22, and the committee launched a report accusing Snyder of carrying out a “shadow investigation” that sought to discredit former staff making accusations of place of job sexual harassment, employed non-public investigators to intimidate witnesses and used an in a foreign country lawsuit as a pretext to procure telephone information and emails.
JULY 2022
After wrangling between his criminal group and the committee over the parameters of his testimony, Snyder agreed to seem nearly.
Snyder testified for more than 10 hours on July 28.
OCTOBER 2022
ESPN launched a long file detailing Snyder’s efforts to steer different homeowners and the league administrative center to handle regulate of the group.
ESPN reported, mentioning nameless assets, that Snyder employed non-public investigators and instructed other folks he has sufficient information to reveal fellow homeowners and Goodell.
Days later, at the NFL homeowners’ conferences in New York on Oct. 18, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay stated there used to be “merit to remove” Snyder — the primary public remark through certainly one of Snyder’s opposite numbers that he must cross.
NOVEMBER 2022
The Snyders took step one toward potentially selling the Commanders: The membership introduced on Nov. 2 {that a} monetary services and products company have been employed to “consider potential transactions.”
Roughly per week later, D.C. lawyer common Karl Racine filed a consumer protection civil lawsuit towards Snyder, the Commanders, the NFL and Goodell, accusing them of colluding to misinform enthusiasts through mendacity about an inquiry into “sexual misconduct and a persistently hostile work environment” inside the group. Racine then filed a second suit accusing the team of a scheme to cheat fans out of ticket money.
The subsequent day, the Commanders settled with the state of Maryland, agreeing to go back safety deposits to former season-ticket holders and pay a $250,000 penalty.
DECEMBER 2022
Before Democrats ceded regulate of the House to Republicans, the House Oversight Committee issued a final report saying Snyder played a role in the team’s “toxic work culture.”
Drawing from hearings, interviews and depositions, the House report concluded Snyder interfered in its investigation and Wilkinson’s review, which stemmed in 2020 from former employees alleging rampant sexual harassment by team executives.
MARCH 2023
Snyder’s status was a hot topic at the annual NFL owners meeting in Arizona, even though he wasn’t a formal topic on the agenda. A person told the AP that Snyder and his attorneys demanded owners and the league indemnify him against future legal liability and costs if he sells the team.
On the overall day of the conferences, two teams — the only with Harris, Rales and Johnson and any other led through Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos — submitted fully financed bids to shop for the Commanders.
APRIL 2023
The District of Columbia settled a lawsuit with the Commanders for $625,000 over withholding enthusiasts’ season-ticket deposit cash.
The settlement included returning $200,000 to fans and paying $425,000 to the district.
Snyder agreed in principle to sell to the group spearheaded by Harris, which Rales and Johnson later joined.
MAY 2023
Harris and the Snyders announced the sale agreement in a joint remark. It used to be the primary public acknowledgement through Snyder that he used to be promoting the group.
JULY 2023
NFL owners unanimously approved the sale and the league fined Snyder $60 million for sexually harassing an employee and withholding revenue from other teams. The punishment came as a result of White’s investigation, which was also publicly released.
The report concluded Snyder sexually harassed Tiffani Johnston, allegations Johnston first made last year in front of a House committee.
AUGUST 2023
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote to Kentucky Rep. James Comer urging him to refer Snyder to the DOJ for an investigation into making false statements in his deposition and obstructing a congressional investigation.
Raskin pointed to the results of White’s investigation that contradicted Snyder’s testimony, specifically about sexually harassing Johnston and deliberately underreporting revenue to avoid sharing it with other owners.
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AP Sports Writers Howard Fendrich and Ben Nuckols contributed to this report.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl