More specifics about the nature of the federal investigation into the Commanders and owner Dan Snyder have emerged, according to a Tuesday report from ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr.
According to Van Natta, federal prosecutors are looking into a confidential $55 million loan made to the team “without the knowledge and required approval of Snyder’s minority partners.”
It would be a criminal violation of Washington’s shareholder agreement—an issue that was raised both during a league arbitration and after Snyder hired Bank of America to explore selling the team in November 2022.
The arbitration took place between Snyder and three minority partners—Robert Rothman, Dwight Schar and Frederick W. Smith (the father of Falcons coach Arthur Smith). According to ESPN’s report, the partners “found Snyder was using the team as his ‘personal piggy bank,’ including charging the team $4.5 million to put its logo on his private jet.”
Mediated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the arbitration ended with Snyder buying his partners out for a total of $875 million.
“Three billionaires—not a few whistleblowers—alleged to the NFL arbitrator that their partner had possibly committed bank fraud,” an unnamed source with “firsthand knowledge” of the situation told ESPN. “This is jail time type of fraud. The NFL owes them as much of a fair shake as it owes Snyder. And the league had no interest in finding out what happened. They buried it and didn’t investigate it and covered it up.”
The Commanders declined to comment on allegations related to the loan.
Washington has been investigated in recent years by multiple entities regarding multiple issues, including a toxic workplace culture and allegations of fraud related to ticket revenue.
