Tag: Karl Racine

Washington D.C. attorney general sues Commanders for allegedly cheating fans out of ticket money

D.C. attorney general Karl Racine announces a second lawsuit against the Washington Commanders.

One day after a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee said the investigation into the Washington Commanders and owner Daniel Snyder was “over,” there’s more trouble for the NFL franchise.

Washington D.C. attorney general Karl Racine announced a second lawsuit against the Commanders stating the team is guilty of “implementing an illegal scheme to cheat District ticket holders out of their deposits for season tickets and use the money for its own purposes.”

This is a separate consumer protection lawsuit from the one Racine filed against Snyder, the Commanders, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell last week regarding the organization’s toxic workplace.

The suit alleges that the Commanders hold “nearly $200,000 in unreturned security deposits” paid by D.C. residents.

The Commanders offered the following response from a team spokesperson:

The Team has not accepted security deposits for over 20 years in the case of premium tickets and over a decade in the case of suites, and we began returning them to season ticket holders as early as 2004.  In 2014, as part of a comprehensive review, Team management was instructed to send notices to over 1,400 customers with deposits and return all security deposits requested.

Further, the team engaged an outside law firm and forensic auditors to conduct an extensive review of the team’s accounts which found no evidence that the team intentionally withheld security deposits that should have been returned to customers or that the team improperly converted any unclaimed deposits to revenue.

Racine offered a link to the complaint on Twitter:

Earlier this month, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia opened a criminal investigation into the team’s alleged financial impropreities.

The NFL’s investigation into Snyder and the Commanders remains ongoing.

House Oversight Committee ranking member on Snyder investigation: ‘It’s over’

One investigation into the Washington Commanders and owner Daniel Snyder appears to be over.

Now that the Republicans are projected to take control of the United States House of Representatives, what does it mean for the investigation into the Washington Commanders and owner Daniel Snyder?

Per Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the Republicans on the Oversight Committee released a statement from ranking member James Comer on the Snyder investigation: “It’s over.”

The Republicans will officially take control in January. According to Maske, it’s expected that the Democratic-led investigation will still issue a memo or final report.

Throughout the investigation, Republican members stated the investigation was a waste of the committee’s time and resources.

“It seems to me an awful lot of Committee—or, rather, taxpayer—resources were expended to investigate the Commanders and the NFL, which are both private organizations that do not employ government officials and are not in the purview of this Committee, said Rep. Virginia Foxx [R-N.C].”

This does not impact the other investigations into Snyder. Last week, Washington D.C. attorney general Karl Racine announced the filing of a civil and consumer protection lawsuit against Snyder, the Commanders, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell.

The NFL is currently investigating Snyder, led by Mary Jo White. There is also the U.S. attorney’s office from the Eastern District of Virginia investigating alleged financial improprieties.

Two weeks ago, the news broke that Snyder had hired Bank of America to explore potential transactions with the Commanders. Some believe Snyder will sell the entire team.

The potential bidders have already lined up, as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and music mogul Jay-Z are reportedly one of the groups interested in making a bid for the storied franchise.

Ron Rivera addressed the Commanders ahead of Thursday’s practice

Rivera spoke to his players over the team’s statement yesterday that cited Brian Robinson Jr’s shooting in August.

The Washington Commanders were in the headlines again Wednesday for nothing that had to do with football. First, there was D.C. attorney general Karl Racine’s message that he would make a “major announcement” regarding the NFL franchise on Thursday.

So, of course, the team responded later Wednesday evening and made things worse by releasing a statement in response to Racine’s promised announcement that cited the shooting of rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr.

That angered Robinson’s agent, who had good things to say about most of the organization, but not whoever was behind the statement.

Team president Jason Wright released yet another statement Wednesday night, saying the following.

The earlier statement express our external counsel’s ongoing frustration with the Attorney General’s office, as they have been nothing but earnest and transparent in their communications with his team. The lawyers’ legitimate frustrations with the AG should have been separate and apart from referencing the terrible crime that affected our player.

The players returned to practice Thursday, ahead of the Monday night game against the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. Head coach Ron Rivera had just returned to the team from California, where his mother died last week.

According to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post, Rivera addressed his team over the organization’s initial statement regarding Robinson.

JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington reported Thursday that Washington players were “pissed” over the organization using Robinson’s situation in its statement to Racine’s pending announcement.

Racine held his press conference Thursday, announcing his office was filing a consumer protection lawsuit against the Snyders, the Commanders, the NFL and commission Roger Goodell.

It’s unfortunate that Rivera continuously has to deal with things out of his and his players’ control.

Washington D.C. Attorney General office sues Commanders, Dan Snyder, NFL, Roger Goodell

The office of the Washington D.C. Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the Commanders, NFL, Dan Snyder, and Roger Goodell

The Washington Commanders and NFL were hit with a lawsuit on Thursday by the office of Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine.

Per WashingtonPost.com:

“Faced with public outrage over detailed and widespread allegations of sexual misconduct and a persistently hostile work environment at the Team, Defendants made a series of public statements to convince District consumers that this dysfunctional and misogynistic conduct was limited and that they were fully cooperating with an independent investigation,” the lawsuit says. “These statements were false and calculated to mislead consumers so they would continue to support the Team financially without thinking that they were supporting such misconduct.”

The lawsuit is being filed in the civil division of the D.C. Superior Court. It alleges the team and league violated the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act with “public misrepresentations, omissions, and ambiguities of material fact.” Racine’s office said it is seeking “financial penalties under the CPPA for every incident in which the Commanders, Mr. Snyder, the NFL, and Commissioner Goodell lied to District residents dating back to July 2020,” adding that the defendants “could face millions of dollars in penalties.”

The complaint can be found here.

And more on the situation can be read here.

DC attorney general: Filing a consumer protection lawsuit against Snyder, Commanders, NFL and Roger Goodell

DC attorney general Karl Racine is filing a consumer protection lawsuit against Daniel Snyder, the Washington Commanders, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell.

Washington D.C. attorney general Karl Racine announced that his office is filing a consumer protection lawsuit, a civil lawsuit, against Dan Snyder, the Washington Commanders, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell.

Racine noted that he and his office have interviewed numerous people, from former team employees, and reviewed thousands of documents, including team emails as a part of his office’s investigation into the Commanders.

Racine noted that Snyder knew of the team’s toxic workplace culture and actively participated in that culture. He said the NFL and Goodell colluded to cover up the allegations of workplace misconduct.

Here are some of the other things Racine said at his press conference, courtesy of the reporters who were in attendance.

Brian Robinson Jr’s agent not happy with Commanders’ statement

Washington referenced Brian Robinson Jr.’s shooting in its response to the DC attorney general’s announcement. Robinson’s agent responded.

On Wednesday, Washington DC attorney general Karl Racine promised a “major announcement” regarding the Washington Commanders on Thursday.

Racine’s announcement is expected to be regarding his office’s investigation into the organization’s workplace conduct issues or alleged financial improprieties. The team has stated that they’ve fully cooperated in the investigation.

However, Washington released an announcement on Wednesday evening in response to Racine.

Less than three months ago, a 23-year-old player on our team was shot multiple times, in broad daylight. Despite the out-of-control violent crime in DC, today the Washington Commanders learned for the first time on Twitter that the D.C. Attorney General will be holding a press conference to ‘make a major announcement’ related to the organization tomorrow.

The Commanders have fully cooperated with the AG’s investigation for nearly a year. As recently as Monday, a lawyer for the team met with the AG who did not suggest at that time that he intended to take any action and, in fact, revealed fundamental misunderstandings of the underlying facts. It is unfortunate that, in his final days in office, Mr. Racine appears more interested in making splashy headlines, based on offbeat legal theories, rather than doing the hard work of making the streets safe for our citizens, including bringing to justice the people who shot one of our players.

It was shocking the statement would reference rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr.’s shooting in response to Racine.

The news didn’t sit well with Robinson’s agent, Ryan Williams, who responded on Twitter.

Williams is right. There was absolutely no need for the team to reference what happened to Robinson in its petulant response to Racine’s announcement.

Unfortunately, this is another situation where the team mishandled something so minor, and head coach Ron Rivera and team president Jason Wright, who are innocent, are left to play damage control.

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Commanders respond to DC attorney general’s promise of ‘major announcement’ Thursday

The Commanders issued a response to the DC attorney general’s news of a “major announcement” Thursday.

It sure feels like Wednesday is the big news day for the Washington Commanders. Last week, there was the report that owner Daniel Snyder had hired Bank of America to explore a potential team sale.

Shortly thereafter, the team confirmed the report.

Later that day, ESPN released a report that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia had opened an investigation into the Commanders for alleged financial improprieties.

On Wednesday, Washington DC attorney general Karl Racine announced a press conference for Thursday where he would reveal a “major announcement” related to the Washington Commanders.

Later Wednesday evening, the Commanders responded via a team spokesperson:

Less than three months ago, a 23-year-old player on our team was shot multiple times, in broad daylight. Despite the out-of-control violent crime in DC, today the Washington Commanders learned for the first time on Twitter that the D.C. Attorney General will be holding a press conference to ‘make a major announcement’ related to the organization tomorrow.

The Commanders have fully cooperated with the AG’s investigation for nearly a year. As recently as Monday, a lawyer for the team met with the AG who did not suggest at that time that he intended to take any action and, in fact, revealed fundamental misunderstandings of the underlying facts. It is unfortunate that, in his final days in office, Mr. Racine appears more interested in making splashy headlines, based on offbeat legal theories, rather than doing the hard work of making the streets safe for our citizens, including bringing to justice the people who shot one of our players.

Unbelievably, in response to Racine’s announcement on Thursday, Washington used rookie running back Brian Robinson’s shooting from Aug. 28 in their statement. It would have been fine if Washington’s spokesperson had left the first paragraph out of its statement.

Just another black eye for the organization that just can’t seem to get out of its own way.

 

DC attorney general: ‘Major announcement’ involving Commanders coming Thursday

DC attorney general Karl Racine says a major announcement regarding the Commanders is coming Thursday.

Washington D.C. attorney general Karl Racine emailed reporters Wednesday to announce a press conference at noon ET Thursday where he will “make a major announcement related to the Washington Commanders.”

According to the release, the office of the attorney general will also hold a follow-up press event for reporters later that afternoon.

No further details were revealed during the release. However, The Washington Post reported in October that Racine had nearly completed his investigation of the Commanders and owner Daniel Snyder. The investigation allegedly began in the fall of 2021.

The office of D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) has nearly completed its investigation of the Washington Commanders and their owner, Daniel Snyder, and is planning to take further action in the case, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

This comes one week after Snyder hired Bank of America Securities to “explore potential transactions” for the franchise. The team quickly confirmed the report. Later that day, an ESPN report stated that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia was investigating the team for alleged financial improprieties.

While there have been questions about Snyder potentially selling the entire team or looking for a minority partner, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported Sunday that Snyder is selling the franchise and that the NFL wants this complete within the next six months.