Washington football team owner Dan Snyder said he was the victim of a campaign to extort one of the franchise’s minority owners, according to a court he filed in Maryland on Wednesday.
Snyder filed the file a day after a Washington Post article reported more details about a $ 1.6 million deal the franchise paid to a former employee on a sexual assault charge in 2009.
Snyder’s deposition in the U.S. District Court in southern Maryland said one of the team’s minority partners, Dwight Schar, was trying to force him to sell the franchise.
“I strongly believe that the applicants’ proposal and the additional submission and the news articles they generated are the latest efforts to extort me,” the case states.
The New York Times reported on the settlement last weekend. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that it had received a copy of the agreement and, citing an anonymous source, said it resulted from an incident on Snyder’s plane while returning from the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.
In Snyder’s submission on Wednesday, he said: ‘The Post article includes several citations from the submission which improperly give the misleading impression, based on the applicants’ position and status, that there were merits in the allegations of misconduct. The purpose of the plaintiffs in submitting their further submission is now clear: to try to continue to enter into an effort to gain leverage in this trade dispute. “
The New York Times reported earlier Sunday that two 2009 investigations – conducted by the team and an outside law firm – failed to justify the former employee’s claim. The newspaper reported that Snyder paid the amount to avoid any negative publicity. Also in the settlement, Snyder and no one else acknowledged the wrongdoing.
Snyder’s addition claims that no evidence of wrongdoing was found after an investigation by a law firm.
“However, plaintiff Schar threatened to discredit me and discredit my family, but which the insurance company decided to settle,” Snyder said in the file.
In two stories this summer, the Post reported that a total of 40 women said they were sexually harassed while employed in the franchise. The press also reported that there were “naughty videos produced by the team following the filming of cheerleaders in 2008 and 2010.” Snyder said he didn’t know about these videos.
The stories coincide with Snyder’s three minority partners, Schar, Fred Smith and Bob Rothman, who want to sell their shares. They hold a combined 40% of the team. Snyder allegedly offered to buy the shares for $ 900 million. According to Forbes, Washington’s franchise is valued at $ 3.5 billion; In a team sale, 40% would be worth $ 1.4 billion.
The NFL is conducting an independent investigation into the allegations in the Post articles. On Tuesday, the league announced that former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch will join the investigation, focusing on Schar’s alleged role in leaking information.
Snyder claimed in previous documents that Schar was behind some of the negative information that was included in the articles. On Wednesday, his file stated that “Dwight Schar sent information about me and the team to Mary Ellen Blair, the team’s former executive assistant, to provide The Washington Post.”
According to Snyder, Blair made a statement that Schar told him to share information with the Washington Post. Snyder’s submission claimed that Schar’s daughter bought Blair a “burner-type phone” to “try to escape the detection of Mr. Schar’s conspiratorial communications.” He cited “numerous calls” from that phone to Schar’s cell phone number.
Snyder said there have been repeated threats by Schar and others associated with him over the past five months. Snyder said Schar threatened “my personal lawyer” in a July 25 conversation.
Snyder claimed that Schar told his lawyer that the information would appear if he did not sell the team, that the story “will kill Dan”.
A text by minority ownership investment banker John Moag suggested what might come out if Snyder did not cooperate: “And you know it has nothing to do with the media …” If you want a show, we agree for that too. “
Moag confirmed to other outlets that the text was correct.
On January 7, there will be a virtual hearing before US District Judge Peter Messitte on each side, in which it is alleged that the other leaked information to the media. According to the publication, Snyder, Schar, Rothman and Smith must appear. Snyder denied in the file that he was the source of any confidential information.
“I am fighting on several fronts for interests that go beyond just me, including the team I love, as well as my family,” Snyder said in the case, “and I can swear before the Court that the allegations I have disclosed the press is improperly false. “