A $55M loan has become a primary focus of federal prosecutors in Virginia who are investigating allegations of financial misconduct by Dan Snyder and the Commanders, multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of the inquiry told ESPN. More from DVNJr:
"This included 'world-class cuisine prepared by some of the top personal chefs in the world and the highest quality wine/beverages,'" the partners said in their petition. And Snyder told the partners he had hired the accounting firm PwC to"perform a detailed accounting of all business expenses for the entire 17-year investment period of the partners."
The partners said they discovered Snyder had leased his personal jets back to the team. Besides Snyder paying himself a salary of $10 million a year, he also had arranged for the franchise to pay him a total of $4.5 million for having the team logo emblazoned on his personal jet."An advertising fee," Snyder had called it, documents show.
"His conduct has harmed not only Claimants and [the team], but also the Washington ... franchise as a whole ." The NFL guarantees all debt taken out by teams. If a franchise wants to take on a new loan beyond strict set limits, it usually must get the permission of the league's finance committee and 24 of 32 owners. McCarthy, the NFL spokesman, did not answer a question about whether the finance committee and the 32 owners had approved Washington's new credit line. A franchise owner and a senior executive said Goodell is not responsible for scrutinizing the terms and conditions of loans.
On Dec. 13, 2018, Eric Schaffer, then the senior vice president for Washington's football operations and general counsel, wrote to the bank saying,"we have examined and relied upon the following ... resolutions of the board of directors of the Borrower authorizing the transactions." Neither Choi nor Schaffer responded to questions from ESPN.
"Claimants further allege that Snyder or his agents misrepresented to the bank that appropriate board approval had been obtained" and that the team"did not obtain the requisite board authority," attorneys wrote to Karp. The next day, NFL general counsel Pash wrote to both sides, laying out the mediation rules and indicating that the confidential session was"for the purpose of facilitating ... a possible buyout" by Snyder of the partners' stake in the team, according to the letter.
Within a month of the session, they struck a deal: Snyder agreed to buy out his three partners' 40% share for a total of $875 million. But Snyder was cash poor. He needed the NFL's permission to finance the buyout. By a 32-0 vote on March 31, 2021, NFL owners granted Snyder a new debt-limit waiver. And Snyder borrowed an additional $450 million from Bank of America.
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