After not appearing at the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform’s hearing on June 22, Commanders owner Dan Snyder has reportedly offered to testify via video in front of the committee, per ESPN.
Snyder’s attorney, Karen Patton Seymour, sent a letter Thursday to Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and said they have yet to hear back about any of the dates they listed. The committee originally asked whether July 6 or 8 would work, but Seymour instead asked about July 28 or 29 for the remote interview. The House will be off after July 29.
After Snyder did not appear at the public hearing in June—he was out of the country—the committee subpoenaed the owner. The committee then revealed that Snyder resisted the subpoena. However, Snyder’s spokesperson has denied this claim.
The investigation into the Commanders’ workplace culture began in October 2021 after an article published by The Washington Post in July ’20 detailed workplace sexual harassment experienced by 15 former employees. Snyder himself also faces several accounts of misconduct, based on a video that includes partially naked cheerleaders and sexual misconduct from former employees, including Tiffani Johnston, who detailed her experience with Snyder during a hybrid roundtable involving several former employees.
The team owner denied the allegations in a statement.
Additionally, the investigation is looking into how the league handled the misconduct reports, “the NFL’s role in setting and enforcing standards across the League, and legislative reforms needed to address these issues across the NFL and other workplaces,” according to the committee’s press release from earlier this month.
In April, the committee wrote an explosive letter to the Federal Trade Commission, asserting that the Commanders and Snyder “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.”
The letter, a copy of which was sent to Sports Illustrated, included testimony from former Washington sales executive Jason Friedman. Some of the instances cited include alleged misappropriation of funds and underreported ticket revenue.
Here is more on the documents released by the committee, including details of the spreadsheet from Friedman, and how the former Washington sales executive said in his testimony that these financial practices began when things “started to get a little tougher for the team financially,” and noted they were encouraged by senior leadership, including Snyder.
Goodell said in March that Snyder “has not been involved in day-to-day operations.” Since July 2021, Snyder’s wife Tanya has taken over the operations of the team. The announcement came when the league partially released its findings from a workplace misconduct probe, levying a $10 million fine against the team.
