The Washington Commanders may somehow be in even deeper trouble than they were before.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, which was obtained by the Washington Post, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform accused Commanders executives and team owner Daniel Snyder of hiding revenue from the NFL for over a decade by withholding security deposits that should have been refunded to season ticket-holders.
“We are writing to share evidence of concerning business practices by the Washington Commanders uncovered during the Committee’s ongoing investigation into workplace misconduct at the team,” the letter says. “Evidence obtained by the Committee, including emails, documents, and statements from former employees, indicate senior executives and the team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, may have engaged in a troubling, long-running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct that victimized thousands of team fans and the National Football League [NFL].”
A large portion of this evidence comes from Jason Friedman, the Commanders’ former vice president of sales and customer service, who testified in front of the committee in March. The letter says that Friedman, who worked for the Commanders for 24 years, also turned over numerous spreadsheets and other documents relating to the alleged unlawful financial activities.
In the letter, the committee asks the FTC, which has the authority to investigate unfair or deceptive business practices, to examine the evidence it provided to determine if the Commanders have broken the law.
The NFL responded to the letter later Tuesday:
The alleged financial misconduct
According to the letter, Friedman’s interview and the documents he submitted shed light on a potentially unlawful practice the Commanders had allegedly been engaging in for at least a decade.
Mr. Friedman provided the Committee with information and documents indicating that the Commanders routinely withheld security deposits that should have been returned to…