LAWYERS REPRESENTING FORMER WASHINGTON COMMANDERS EMPLOYEES CALL OWNER-LAUNCHED INVESTIGATION A “SHAM”
The Washington Commanders announced on Wednesday morning that the organization had hired an independent investigative team from Pallas Global Group, which is led by attorneys Bonnie Jonas and Tiffany Moller, to look into the allegations of sexual harassment by Tiffani Johnston against team owner Dan Snyder.
Johnston appeared before congress on Thursday last week and accused Snyder of touching her without her consent at a work dinner 13 years ago. She claimed that Dan Snyder had placed his hand on her leg and left it there until she moved it away and that the Washington Commanders owner had tried to beguile her into his limousine after the dinner.
“The only reason Dan Snyder removed his hand from my back and stopped pushing me towards his limo was because his attorney intervened and said, ‘Dan, Dan, this is a bad idea,'” Johnston said. “I learned that I should remove myself from Dan’s grip while his attorney was distracting him.” Johnston said she had not come forward before for fear of retaliation.
Snyder issued a statement denying her allegations: “allegations leveled against me personally in today’s roundtable — many of which are well over 13 years old — are outright lies. I unequivocally deny having participated in any such conduct, at any time and with respect to any person.”
Pallas Global Group chose to retain former Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group, Debra Wong Yang to lead the investigation. Yang is a former California state court judge, former U.S attorney and a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP in Los Angeles. The team confirmed that Yang will report her findings to Pallas Global Group, after which those findings will be made public.
“The Team is committed to a thorough and independent investigation of Ms. Johnston’s allegation, and pledges full cooperation with the investigation,” the team said in a statement. “At the conclusion of the investigation, Ms. Yang will report her findings to Pallas Global Group, and those findings will be released to the public.”
Johnson’s lawyers, Lisa Banks and Debra Katz released a statement saying, “The idea that Dan Snyder has hired a team to investigate his own actions is utterly absurd.”
Banks and Katz also confirmed that they also represent 40 other former team employees and went on to say: “This is a desperate public relations stunt, clearly designed to absolve him of wrongdoing. Our client, Tiffani Johnston, already testified credibly to Congress about her experience of being sexually harassed by Mr. Snyder. Her powerful testimony was corroborated by an eyewitness who submitted a statement to Congress. If there is to be any investigation of Ms. Johnston’s allegations, it should be conducted by Beth Wilkinson and her team, who have spent the better part of the last year investigating the actions of Mr. Snyder and his top lieutenants. The fact is that Mr. Snyder has gone to great lengths to conceal the truth and his retention of this team is just his latest effort to paint a false picture of his behavior.”
“If, as Mr. Snyder claims today, he genuinely wanted the truth about his actions to emerge, he would have embraced the public release of Ms. Wilkinson’s findings. Instead, he worked with the NFL to block the release of the Wilkinson report. And now, he has handpicked new investigators to do what apparently the Wilkinson report did not do — sugarcoat his own actions. Ms. Johnston will not participate in this sham of an investigation, and the public will not be duped into believing that this is anything other than Dan Snyder trying to whitewash his own misconduct.”
Johnston is the second former Commanders employee to go public with those concerns, joining former cheerleader, Tiffany Bacon Scourby, who shared her story with the Washington Post. This is the third sexual assault allegation aimed directly at Dan Snyder. Another allegation made the headlines last year and involved an alleged incident on Snyder’s private jet. The debacle ended in a $1.6 million settlement as discovered by attorney Beth Wilkinson. According to the Washington Post, Snyder’s team of attorneys attempted to prevent Wilkinson from speaking with the woman.
The congressional committee that Johnston spoke to has been investigating the team since September. The committee released documents on Friday last week shockingly revealing that the NFL may not be able to release the findings of its internal investigation of the Washington Commanders without the explicit permission of owner Dan Snyder. The NFL, through commissioner Goodell, has previously maintained that it cannot release the details of the internal investigation because Wilkinson presented her findings orally.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero