Former Commanders Minority Owner Sues Bank of America Over Sale to Dan Snyder

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured Columnist IVDecember 28, 2023

John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Robert Rothman, who is a former minority owner of the Washington Commanders, filed a federal lawsuit against Bank of America on Wednesday and is seeking at least $75 million in compensatory damages in regards to allegations that it conspired with the NFL and former Commanders owner Daniel Snyder in an effort to force him to sell his stake in the team.

ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. reported Rothman alleged the parties forced him and two other minority partners to sell their combined 40 percent stakes of the Commanders back to Snyder for $875 million in April 2021.

The lawsuit said such a price suggested the franchise had a valuation of less than $3 billion, which is far below the American sports franchise record $6.05 billion that Snyder sold it for this summer.

Snyder nor the NFL are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

“The centerpiece of Rothman’s lawsuit is the bank’s December 2018 approval of the franchise’s $55 million credit line taken out by Snyder without his minority partners’ knowledge or required approval,” Van Natta wrote. “The bank allowed Snyder to draw $38 million in March 2019 from the credit line ‘without verifying Snyder had obtained board approval,’ the lawsuit states.”

The lawsuit also said Bank of America turned “a blind eye” to “financial red flags” related to Snyder’s tenure as team owner, which included him “self-dealing” through various actions such as charging $3.5 million to place the team’s logo on his own private jet and $7 million in personal expenses for things such as yachts and residential properties.

Bank of America brokered Snyder’s sale of the franchise.

Van Natta noted Snyder obtaining the secret $55 million credit line “became the most contentious issue in the bitter, yearlong clash with the three men who had been minority partners since 2003.”

There were questions about how it was obtained without providing board approval documents to Bank of America, and they even filed a confidential NFL arbitration petition in August 2020.

However, the lawsuit stated NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, general counsel Jeffrey Pash and an NFL-appointed arbitrator did not investigate the allegations regarding the $55 million loan and Snyder’s financial mishaps. The league eventually ended the mediation session in January 2021 following just two days.

According to the lawsuit, Bank of America would not turn over documents related to the credit line without a subpoena or court order. What’s more, the lawsuit said Snyder blocked the three minority partners from selling their stake in the team after they received an offer in October 2020 because he and the bank were worried it would have given them access to information about the loan and financial issues.

Van Natta also reported that federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia are still investigating the bank’s approval of the credit line after a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for documents related to it in 2022.

Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said “we will vigorously defend ourselves against these allegations.”

On the field, the Commanders are off to a 4-11 start in their first season following Snyder’s sale of the team. They face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday and finish the campaign against the Dallas Cowboys on Jan. 7.