Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores’ allegation that team owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him to lose games warrants a criminal investigation, a longtime Miami criminal defense attorney said Tuesday night.
And Ross also stands at risk of significant punishment if the NFL can corroborate Flores’ allegations that the Dolphins owner offered to pay Flores $100,000 per loss in 2019 — with the goal of a higher draft pick — and that Ross pressured him to recruit a quarterback in violation of the league’s tampering rules.
Whether the NFL will investigate the matter remains to be seen.
The NFL on Tuesday said Flores’ federal class-action lawsuit that alleged discrimination regarding his interview process with the Denver Broncos and New York Giants and his dismissal last month by the Dolphins was “without merit” but declined to say whether it would investigate those two specific claims leveled against Ross.
Could Ross face criminal charges for allegedly offering his coach financial incentive to lose games?
“It certainly warrants criminal investigation,” said Albert Levin, a 40-year criminal defense attorney. “A zealous prosecutor could try to make a bribery case. With other factors considered, there could be a basis for a bribery prosecution to be initiated. It’s certainly nefarious and despicable but questionably criminally. But the bribery statute could be implicated.”
As for potential Dolphins punishment by the NFL, an attorney with experience in sports law said Ross could face serious consequences if the league can prove Flores’ allegation that Ross offered to pay him to lose games in 2019.
“The big problem Ross is going to have is the integrity of the game [clause],” said attorney Michael Elkins, founder of MLE Law. “The commissioner has wide latitude [in that regard]. If you have an owner offering coach cash for losses, that’s a problem. [The penalty] could be up to a suspension.”
There is precedent for the NFL disciplining owners, though the league historically has been disinclined to force owners to sell a team.
Last July, the NFL fined the Washington Football Team $10 million and reportedly instructed owner Dan Snyder to step away from day-to-day operations after an independent investigation into the organization’s workplace misconduct. But Snyder was never formally suspended; he instead said his wife Tanya would be in charge for “several months.”
The investigation found ownership and senior officials paid little attention to sexual harassment and other workplace issues that made the environment “highly unprofessional,” particularly for women.
But the team was not stripped of any draft picks.
The NFL suspended Saints coach Sean Payton without pay for the 2012 season for his role in a scheme to pay players who hurt opponents and knocked them out of games, a scandal that became known as Bountygate.
Quarterback Tom Brady was suspended four games after the NFL determined he was “at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities” related to the Deflategate controversy. The New England Patriots were fined $1 million and were stripped of a first-round pick in 2016 and a fourth-round pick in 2017.
“This [with Ross] could go further because we are talking about direct payments for losses,” Elkins said. “It’s not looking like a good day for Ross.”
With regard to potential NFL discipline, Elkin also cited Flores’ claim that Ross pressured him to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of league tampering rules” in the 2020 offseason. That quarterback is Tom Brady, as The Palm Beach Post first reported.
Per the lawsuit:
“In the winter of 2020, Mr. Ross invited Mr. Flores onto a yacht for lunch. Shortly after he arrived, Mr. Ross told Mr. Flores that the prominent quarterback was ‘conveniently’ arriving at the marina. Obviously, Mr. Ross had attempted to ‘set up’ a purportedly impromptu meeting between Mr. Flores and the prominent quarterback. Mr. Flores refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately. After the incident, Mr. Flores was treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.”
The Dolphins did not specifically comment on the allegations involving the $100,000 payment for losses and the quarterback pursuit but said “the implication that we acted in a manner inconsistent with the integrity of the game is incorrect.”
Miami-based sports attorney Darren Heitner said: “My initial response was this would be really a shame if Dolphins fans now have to suffer through more years of tough times because there is some punitive action against the team, whether there is loss of draft picks.”
Heitner noted with “regard to any complaint, most lawyers would tell you it tells one side of the story. The other side has to respond, and it probably will be met with a motion to dismiss. We won’t know if it’s completely factually correct. The complaint paints a picture that is quite deplorable.”
