Oversight committee sends FTC evidence of ‘troubling financial conduct’ by Washington Commanders

The House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday detailing evidence that the Washington Commanders organization engaged in “troubling financial conduct” that may have cost fans and the NFL. 

The committee wrote that it has obtained new documents detailing allegations that team executives may have withheld up to $5 million of refundable security deposits owed to season ticket holders, and also concealed revenue that was supposed to be shared under the league’s revenue-sharing agreement. 

“This new information on potential financial misconduct suggests that the rot under Dan Snyder’s leadership is much deeper than imagined,” committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement, referring to the Commanders’ owner.

“It further reinforces the concern that this organization has been allowed to operate with impunity for far too long,” she added.

Asked about the claims, a Commanders spokesperson referred to a previous statement released when the financial allegations emerged late last month.

“The team categorically denies any suggestion of financial impropriety of any kind at any time,” it said.

“We adhere to strict internal processes that are consistent with industry and accounting standards, are audited annually by a globally respected independent auditing firm, and are also subject to regular audits by the NFL.”

The claims of financial misconduct emerged during the Oversight committee’s investigation into workplace misconduct and sexual harassment by Snyder and other executives.

Snyder handed daily operations of the team to his wife following an NFL investigation into some of the misconduct claims; however, the league has refused to release its findings.

“While the focus of our investigation remains the Commanders’ toxic work environment, I hope the FTC will review this troubling financial conduct and determine whether further action is necessary,” Maloney wrote. “We must have accountability.”

The committee noted that it received the new financial information from former team employee Jason Friedman, who spent 24 years as the team’s vice president of sales and customer service, in an interview last month. 

Friedman reportedly told the committee that after the 2000 season, the team no longer required security deposits for new club seat lease agreements, a practice the team had followed in previous years. He said the team failed to inform all leaseholders of the change and continued collecting the full payments for renewed leases.

Friedman, who left the organization in 2020, also said the team retained some $5 million in unreturned security deposits for nearly 2,000 season ticket holders as of 2016, money that he said some team executives called “juice” and used for other purposes.

Friedman also alleged that the team kept two sets of books — one shared with the league that did not fully report certain ticket revenue, and another that included the complete and accurate revenue, which was shown to Snyder.

“Mr. Friedman understood that the practice of requesting ‘juice’ from security deposits would occur when team executives believed the Commanders ‘were a little bit behind on our sales numbers,’” the committee wrote in its letter.

The committee initially launched its investigation into the Commanders last October following the resignation of Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden, whose email chain with then-team president Bruce Allen was leaked to the public. The email chain, which was a part of the league’s initial investigation of the team, contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic language. 

The league launched a separate investigation into the team in February, after former team cheerleader and marketing manager Tiffani Johnston accused Synder of sexually harassing her during a work-related dinner during a House Oversight Committee roundtable discussion on the matter. 

The committee also noted that former team employee Rachel Engleson told them that it was rumored that the team was “moving around” money regarding ticket sales.

“We continue to cooperate with the Oversight Committee and have provided more than 210,000 pages of documents. The NFL has engaged former SEC chair Mary Jo White to review the serious matters raised by the committee,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement to The Hill. 

The FTC confirmed that it received the letter, but declined to comment further.

— Updated at 5:37 p.m.