“We are pleased that we were able to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with Commander Washington, which requires that illegally held deposits be returned to consumers,” Miyares said in a statement. “Our investigation revealed that Commander’s previous ownership had illegally held deposits that should have been returned to consumers for several years. We appreciate the current ownership’s cooperation with this investigation and the team’s efforts to correct the consumer harms we identified.”
Commanders returned more than $600,000 in deposits to about 475 season ticket holders, according to Miyares’ office. Miyares’ office said the investigative team agreed to pay a civil penalty of $600,000 and $100,000 in investigation settlement costs.
“We are pleased that this agreement resolves issues that arose under previous ownership,” the commanders said in a statement issued through a spokesperson.
Snyder will be responsible for paying any fines associated with the settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.
NFL team owners voted in July to ratify Snyder’s sale of the Commanders for $6.05 billion to a group led by private equity investor Josh Harris. The NFL said that when the sale was approved, an NFL investigation conducted by attorney Mary Jo White found that the team withheld revenue it should have shared with other franchises and that Snyder had sexually harassed the league to end the deal. He announced that he would pay $60 million. Former team employee.
Miyares’ office said it began its investigation in April 2022. The investigation found that commanders had entered into long-term contracts with season ticket holders since at least 1997, requiring some of them to pay refundable deposits.
“Despite contractual obligations to return deposits within 30 days of contract expiration, commanders illegally retained significant amounts of deposits and often imposed additional conditions on consumers seeking refunds,” Miyares’ office said.
Snyder purchased the team from the Jack Kent Cooke estate in 1999. Miyares’ office did not immediately clarify whether the investigation found evidence of wrongdoing involving ticket deposits before Snyder was in possession.
Commanders sent approximately 650 letters to former season ticket holders with unrefunded deposits held in 2014 and “will be remitting any unclaimed funds to the state Unclaimed Property Office,” Miyares’ office said in a release. “Despite that promise, the team has failed to remit a single penny of unclaimed deposits to state unclaimed property offices, including the Virginia Department of the Treasury, until at least 2023,” he added.
Then-Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) announced an agreement in November 2022 that, as part of the settlement, commanders who did not admit to charges would refund any deposits not yet returned to consumers. Must pay a $250,000 fine. D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb’s (D) office announced a settlement in April 2023 that would require commanders to pay a $425,000 fine to the district and refund more than $200,000 in deposits to D.C. ticket holders.
The team’s deposit practices were first revealed through an investigation by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, then the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Jason Friedman, a former Washington sales executive, told the committee that Snyder-owned team executives instructed Friedman to withhold deposits from customers at the end of their leases and create barriers to prevent customers from requesting their deposits back. . Friedman claimed the team converted unrefunded deposits into profit. The commission referred its findings to local attorneys general to the Federal Trade Commission.
