Commodes being investigated

[Elmgrovegnome]

The problem is that what’s the punishment?

Oh no… a billionaire might be forced to sell a valuable asset for a substantial gain… that asshole… here’s $5B dollars, now get out of our club…

I know Bezos wants to own the Commodes… not surprised that some of this stuff is coming from WaPo… and when you own the Washington NFL club, you’re gonna have direct access to the President… we’ve seen that going back to Jack Kent Cooke.

Yeah, Snyder is done, if for no other reason than Bezos is much more likely to be a deep pocket owner who seeks to hire good people and it’ll only increase his ability to gain entry into the valuable NFL streaming market which right now is GROSSLY under-exploited (as opposed to satellite which is saturated and not well monetized)

If nothing else, Bezos would improve the field and build a new stadium with his own damn money (sorry, I’m salty as hell that NY state is taking $800M from child programs to give a billionaire $850M towards the building of a new stadium…)

Which stadium is that? Bills?

 

[Mister Sin]

My god Dan Snyder has been a grease ball since day one. What a fuckin loser.

 

[Memento]

This reminds me of Al Capone, in a way. All of the horrible things Dan Snyder has done, and this is what's going to - hopefully - bring him down. It's like Capone being busted for tax evasion after all of the horrible things he did that couldn't be proven or were bought off.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Georgia: Hold my rose'

Was she sleezy or just a cheapskate?

 

[thirteen28]

Dan Snyder has to be on his last leg with the NFL. If there is truth behind this smoke, he is done.

Washington fans hearing about this investigation and the possibility of Snyder being done:

 

[RamFan503]

Was she sleezy or just a cheapskate?

You mean sailor in every port Georgia? Not sure if that equates to sleezy but...

 

[Riverumbbq]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/congre...enue-from-nfl-in-letter-to-ftc-185750481.html

Congress accuses Commodes of stealing season ticket deposits, hiding revenue from NFL in letter to FTC​

Liz Roscher
Tue, April 12, 2022, 11:57 AM


The Washington Commodes may somehow be in even deeper trouble than they were before.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, which was obtained by the Washington Post, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform accused Commodes executives and team owner Daniel Snyder of hiding revenue from the NFL for over a decade by withholding security deposits that should have been refunded to season ticket-holders.

“We are writing to share evidence of concerning business practices by the Washington Commodes uncovered during the Committee’s ongoing investigation into workplace misconduct at the team,” the letter says. “Evidence obtained by the Committee, including emails, documents, and statements from former employees, indicate senior executives and the team’s owner, Daniel 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 [NFL].”

A large portion of this evidence comes from Jason Friedman, the Commodes' former vice president of sales and customer service, who testified in front of the committee in March. The letter says that Friedman, who worked for the Commodes for 24 years, also turned over numerous spreadsheets and other documents relating to the alleged unlawful financial activities.
In the letter, the committee asks the FTC, which has the authority to investigate unfair or deceptive business practices, to examine the evidence it provided to determine if the Commodes have broken the law.
The NFL responded to the letter later Tuesday:

The alleged financial misconduct​

According to the letter, Friedman's interview and the documents he submitted shed light on a potentially unlawful practice the Commodes had allegedly been engaging in for at least a decade.

Mr. Friedman provided the Committee with information and documents indicating that the Commodes routinely withheld security deposits that should have been returned to customers who had purchased multi-year season tickets for specific seats, referred to as seat leases.

The security deposit for the seat leases was 25 percent of the full cost of the seats for one year. Friedman told the committee that the security deposits were supposed to be refunded when the multi-year seat contract ended. But in 2012, the end of a 15-year waiver that capped how much money teams were required to share from club-seating revenue, team executives allegedly "directed employees to establish roadblocks to prevent customers from obtaining the security deposits that were due — effectively allowing the team to retain that money."
Revenue gained from that practice was allegedly referred to as "juice." The Commodes allegedly misclassified that "juice" intentionally, so it would look like it came from non-NFL events held at FedEx Field (such as college football games or concerts) and could therefore be hidden from the NFL and not included in the NFL's pool of shared money. Friedman said that the Commodes were able to hide these activities by keeping two sets of books.
In the letter, the committee said that after examining Friedman's testimony and the documents he submitted, it believes the Commodes improperly withheld refunds from around 2,000 season ticket accounts, allegedly allowing the team to pocket approximately $5 million that should have gone into the NFL's revenue-sharing pool.

Commodes deny everything​

The accusations of financial impropriety first came to light a few weeks ago, and not long after it was reported that Friedman had testified in front the House Committee on Oversight and Reform about the Commodes allegedly withholding ticket revenue. On April 4, the Commodes released a statement denying everything.

"There has been absolutely no withholding of ticket revenue at any time by the Commodes," the statement read. "Those revenues are subject to independent audits by multiple parties. Anyone who offered testimony suggesting a withholding of revenue has committed perjury, plain and simple."

The Commodes have yet to release a new statement, and the NFL has not commented on the newly detailed accusations.
While the public found out about these accusations just over a week ago, the NFL may have learned about these alleged financial crimes almost two years ago. Rachel Engleson, the team’s former director of marketing and client relations, told the committee that she revealed her suspicions about the team's ticket practice to Beth Wilkinson, the attorney that had been investigating accusations of sexual misconduct, a hostile work environment, and gender discrimination against the Commodes. Wilkinson's investigation took place in 2020.
At the time, the NFL did not ask Wilkinson to submit a written report of the investigation once it was completed, preventing a full and public accounting of what she learned. Congress later began investigating why there was no written report and asked Snyder and the NFL to turn over all documents and communications relating to the investigation.
Both parties refused to turn over those documents, which likely led the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to dig deeper into the Commodes' affairs and open a separate investigation, resulting in Friedman's testimony and Tuesday's letter to the FTC.

 

[RamUK]

If Daniel Snyder has any Deep State Political allies/ connections-- nothing will happen

Or a Unicorn. Don't forget unicorns.

 

[Flint]

This doesn’t sound like revenue to be shared it sounds like money that should’ve been given back. The article says the Commodes came up with reasons to keep this deposit money and then hid it from other owners. Seems weird that the headline is hiding assets from the other billionaires not stealing it from their fans.

 

[Da-Rock]

Yeah, they also pulled a "2020" by stating, "potentially unlawful practice"......lol. Well, if you don't know if it is unlawful or not then it means you are fishing. Not a Redskins fan or a Snyder fan, but this sounds like Snyder made a powerful enemy who is hunting him down.

 

[Neil039]

This is sh*t show in Washington. I was listening to sports radio this morning. They discussed why the League is taking a wait and see approach with the Skins (Or Washington). If the league goes after Snyder then all the owners will be scrutinized. Good point but these idiots are not above the system or the law.

 

[Mackeyser]

Which stadium is that? Bills?

Yep. It's gross.

It's bad enough and one thing to raise hotel and various visitor taxes, but to literally take nearly a billion dollars out of programs for children so that a billionaire can get more than half off of a stadium?

It's disgusting. Moreover, I don't care to parse if it's help for rent for low income parents, art classes, teen suicide hotlines or whatever... don't care. They've already cut so many of these programs that I don't recognize how kids are managing these days.

It's a damn shame, but most of these billionaire assholes have no shame and would gladly take the pennies out of a blind beggar's cup.

That's one thing I REALLY like about E. Stanley Kroenke. He built it with his own money (I know, construction loans, LOC, etc).

Maybe it's me just being paternalistic, but I think taking from kids is morally wrong... but then again, the NFL owners include real POS like Daniel Snyder, so... maybe Kroenke's the exception?

 

[RamFan503]

A bunch of millionaires that made their money bilking the public investigating a billionaire accused of bilking other billionaires. Ah... DC.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Yep. It's gross.

It's bad enough and one thing to raise hotel and various visitor taxes, but to literally take nearly a billion dollars out of programs for children so that a billionaire can get more than half off of a stadium?

It's disgusting. Moreover, I don't care to parse if it's help for rent for low income parents, art classes, teen suicide hotlines or whatever... don't care. They've already cut so many of these programs that I don't recognize how kids are managing these days.

It's a damn shame, but most of these billionaire assholes have no shame and would gladly take the pennies out of a blind beggar's cup.

That's one thing I REALLY like about E. Stanley Kroenke. He built it with his own money (I know, construction loans, LOC, etc).

Maybe it's me just being paternalistic, but I think taking from kids is morally wrong... but then again, the NFL owners include real POS like Daniel Snyder, so... maybe Kroenke's the exception?

Agreed. It’s disgusting.

I worked for a state program designed to help troubled young people from the ages of 18-25. It was essentially an employment program. But there was more to it. It was about treating them respectfully, teaching them to treat others respectfully, building there confidence, teaching life skills as well as trade skills. Most of those kids looked at the Crewleaders as parents. The hope was to get them into a better lifestyle and steered away from welfare.

There were 50 crews across the state of PA. We had a six million dollar budget. Crewleaders and members were paid for full time employment even if some kids attended classes to get their GED. My region had a 75% success rate for job placement paying above $14.00 per hour. We elected a new governor and the first thing he did was cut the program and put the money into welfare. SMH. It made no sense.

 

[nighttrain]

most dangerous phrase in America,
"I am from the Government, and I am here to help you!"

train

 

[Merlin]

Snyder's about to spend the season in his owner box with an ankle monitor.

 

[oldnotdead]

The NFL needs to clean house in Washington and Miami. This is their opportunity to have two minority owners and put their diversity issues to rest.