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The House Committee on Oversight and Reform issued a letter earlier this week detailing alleged financial improprieties by the Commanders and team owner Dan Snyder.
The letter alleges that the franchise “may have engaged in a troubling, long-running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct that victimized thousands of team fans and the National Football League.”
A spokesperson for D.C. attorney general Karl Racine told The Washington Post that their office takes the allegations in the letter very seriously.
“We take these allegations against the Washington Commanders very seriously, and if we find evidence that they have violated District law, we won’t hesitate to take action,” Racine’s spokesperson said.
Maryland attorney general Brian Frosh said that if what is being described in the letter is accurate, then the Commanders “could be in violation of Maryland’s Consumer Protection Act.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares acknowledged receipt of the letter, and said that the office is reviewing it before releasing a statement.
William Kovacic, a George Washington University law professor and former general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission, told the Washington Post that the high profile of the NFL could nudge the FTC into taking action.
“You generally don’t like to brush off a legislative committee, especially if you’re the chair. It’s your own party, they want you to do something. It’s awkward to tell them, ‘Get lost, we have too much else.’ Indeed, they have too many other things to do… but they understand the National Football League, so that would draw you to do it,” Kovacic said.
“If the FTC found something that could be called a crime, they’d have to hand it off to somebody else, which means going to the criminal division of the Department of Justice or perhaps going to these state attorneys general. [The FTC] have absolutely no criminal enforcement authority. On the civil side, their foremost remedy is to tell people to stop it and don’t do it again, to get an injunction, a cease-and-desist order. There is a big question now, owing to recent Supreme Court decisions, if they have the power to force the Commanders to give money back to the victims,” Kovacic added.
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