Daniel Snyder is gone. But he won’t be forgotten. For various reasons.
One such reason comes from a new lawsuit filed by former minority partner Robert Rothman. Via the Washington Post, Rothman has sued Bank of America and others over the sale of his interest in the team in 2021.
After an extended stretch of ugliness between former majority owner Daniel Snyder and three prominent minority partners — Rothman, Fred Smith, and Dwight Schar — they sold their 40 percent of the team to Snyder for $875 million. Two years later, Snyder sold all of the team to a group led by Josh Harris for more than $6 billion.
The litigation arises from the allegedly divided loyalties for Bank of America, which had a relationship with Rothman and which also handled the sale of the Commanders. Rothman alleges that Snyder and Bank of America conspired to allow Snyder to buy the 40 percent of the team at a discount, before selling all of it at market value.
The civil complaint alleges that Snyder at one point “privately and publicly commented that nobody can ‘f--k with me,” and that he “insinuated that he would use the ‘dirt’ that he had accumulated on individuals including, but not limited to, NFL owners, the NFL Commissioner and other business people associated with the NFL.”
Bank of America denies all allegations. As companies sued in court typically do.
The litigation won’t impact in any way the current status of the team. The fight will be whether and to what extent liability arises from whatever did and didn’t happen in connection with the sale of the team.
