Daniel Snyder was fined $60 million, by far the most important penalty ever levied towards an N.F.L. staff proprietor, after he was discovered to have sexually harassed a girl who was each a former cheerleader and a advertising worker for the Washington Commanders.
A league-sponsored investigation launched Thursday discovered credible claims made by Tiffani Johnston, the previous staff worker, who stated that Snyder put his hand on her thigh with out her consent at a piece dinner in 2005 or 2006, and that he later tried to push her towards the again seat of his automotive after the occasion. According to the report, her account was supported by proof and contemporaneous witnesses.
The findings had been reported by Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor and chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who spent 17 months wanting into allegations of widespread sexual harassment towards executives on the staff, together with Snyder, in addition to claims of economic improprieties.
The N.F.L. launched White’s report instantly after the 31 different golf equipment unanimously permitted the sale of the Commanders to an funding group led by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion, a document for an American professional sports activities staff.
“The conduct substantiated in Ms. White’s findings has no place in the N.F.L.,” Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in a press release. “We strive for workplaces that are safe, respectful and professional. What Ms. Johnston experienced is inappropriate and contrary to the N.F.L.’s values.”
White’s report additionally substantiated claims made by a former Washington ticket govt, Jason Friedman, who stated the staff had deliberately shielded and withheld revenues that had been supposed to be shared among the many league’s 32 groups. According to the report, about $11 million in shareable revenues had been confirmed to have been improperly withheld.
The investigators wrote that they may neither conclude nor rule out that Snyder had directed or participated on this revenue-shielding, however that “at a minimum, he was aware of certain efforts to minimize revenue sharing.”
Johnston and Friedman made these allegations in early 2022 as a part of a congressional inquiry prompted by the league’s refusal to launch the small print of its first investigation into office harassment claims on the staff in 2021.
“Dan Snyder has been forced to sell the team he said he would never sell, pay a massive fine to the N.F.L. and there now exists an extensive public record of his personal wrongdoing and the misconduct that occurred under his leadership,” Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, the legal professionals representing greater than 40 former Commanders workers who spoke out about office misconduct, together with Johnston and Friedman, stated in a press release.
Asked to make clear how the league decided the quantity of Snyder’s effective, Goodell responded, “It was a resolution of all the outstanding matters including Mary Jo White’s findings. It was something that the finance committee considered, recommended unanimously and the membership accepted unanimously.”
Though the investigators spoke with 44 witnesses, together with former workers whom the staff launched from nondisclosure agreements, and reviewed tens of hundreds of paperwork made out there by the Commanders, Snyder was additionally penalized for failing to completely cooperate of their inquiry.
He refused for practically a yr to talk with White, and, when he lastly did, he met for just one hour to disclaim the allegations of sexual harassment. He additionally stated he had “little knowledge or recollection of any substantive information relevant to the financial issues.”
White stated the staff for many months didn’t produce paperwork to elucidate why it had moved hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from accounts with shared N.F.L. income to different accounts.
The Commanders intentionally violated the league’s revenue-sharing guidelines by way of practices that included improperly classifying income from N.F.L. video games as coming from different particular occasions, in addition to reporting falsely lowered ticket costs to the league, the report stated.
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