It seems Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder hasn’t changed.
According to a fantastic report from Will Hobson and Liz Clarke of the Washington Post, the mercurial owner of the Washington franchise tried to interfere in Beth Wilkinson’s investigation into the organization’s toxic workplace culture, which featured widespread sexual harassment over the course of several years.
Per Hobson and Clarke, Wilkinson tried to interview a woman who accused Snyder of sexual misconduct back in 2009. That case ended with a financial settlement. When Wilkinson attempted to interview the alleged victim, Snyder and his legal team stepped in.
Remember, Snyder promised to cooperate fully with Wilkinson’s investigation. Check out this excerpt from Hobson and Clarke:
Despite the owner’s public pledge to cooperate “with all aspects of the investigation,” his attorneys attempted to prevent Wilkinson from speaking to Snyder’s accuser, according to a letter the woman’s attorney wrote to Snyder’s lawyers that was filed in federal court.
While the Washington Post did not have access to the letter in question, others did, and they explained what the letter contained.
According to these people, the woman’s lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, accused Snyder’s lawyers of offering his client more money beyond the $1.6 million the team paid in 2009, if she agreed not to speak to anyone about her allegations against Snyder and her settlement with the team.
The report contained much more on Snyder and his alleged interference in the investigation of Washington’s workplace culture, such as hiring private investigators to show up at the homes of some of the women who cooperated with the Washington Post’s initial report back in July 2020.
There’s much more in this story from Washington Post, and it’s a must-read.
Now the question becomes, how much longer can the NFL not reveal the emails uncovered in Wilkinson’s investigation into the team?