Commanders Used 'Illegal' Scheme To Cheat Ticket Holders, Says 2nd DC Lawsuit

WASHINGTON, DC — D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine filed another lawsuit against the Washington Commanders on Thursday, accusing the team of cheating D.C. ticket holders out of their deposits for season tickets and using the money for its own purposes.

The lawsuit, the attorney general's second against the team in the past week, was filed in D.C. Superior Court against Pro Football Inc., the corporate entity that owns the Commanders.

This new lawsuit follows the D.C. Office of the Attorney General’s initial lawsuit announced Nov. 10 against the Commanders, team owner Dan Snyder, the NFL, and Commissioner Roger Goodell for colluding to deceive D.C. residents about an investigation into the team’s workplace culture and allegations of sexual assault.

The new lawsuit highlights “yet another example of egregious mismanagement and illegal conduct by Commanders executives who seem determined to lie, cheat, and steal from District residents in as many ways as possible,” Racine said in a statement Thursday.

“We deserve better, and today my office is taking action yet again to hold them accountable,” he said.

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A Commanders spokesperson had yet to respond to the new lawsuit when reached for comment, the Associated Press reported Thursday afternoon.

The D.C. Office of the Attorney General said it is the first enforcement authority to take action following a referral from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform that sent a letter in April to the attorney general’s office and other entities sharing information on the Commanders’ business practices.

D.C.'s latest lawsuit against the team comes as the Republicans prepare to take control of the House of Representatives. The ranking Republican on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform said the committee's investigation into the team will end early next year, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

“It’s over,” Rep. James Comer of Kentucky said in a brief statement Wednesday, which came after The Associated Press projected Republicans had clinched a narrow majority in the House.

In the new lawsuit, the attorney general's office argued that since 1996, the Washington Commanders have sold season ticket contracts to D.C. fans, some of which required a substantial security deposit. The Commanders promised the ticket holders that they would automatically get the deposits within 30 days of the contracts’ expiration. But the team held on to the money — sometimes for over a decade — and used the ticket proceeds for its own purposes, the attorney general said in the lawsuit.

When ticket holders requested their deposits be returned, the Commanders "intentionally complicated the return process by imposing extra, burdensome conditions that were not previously adequately disclosed," Racine's office said.

"As a result of these deceptive practices, the team illegally withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars from District residents," the attorney general said in a news release.

In the lawsuit filed last week, Racine argued that Snyder and Goodell colluded to bury the results of the NFL's investigation into the franchise's toxic workplace culture. Racine said Snyder and Goodell intentionally deceived D.C. residents about the investigation to protect the league's image and profits.

In the new lawsuit, the attorney general's office said it is asking the court to stop the team's "illegal practices," pay D.C. ticket holders back what they are owed and impose financial penalties on the team for violations of D.C.'s Consumer Protection Procedures Act.