NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appointed former U.S. Attorney and SEC Chair Mary Jo White and her colleagues from Debevoise & Plimpton back in February of 2022 to conduct the independent investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct and financial improprieties on the part of Snyder. In her conclusion, White ruled in favor of former employee Tiffani Johnston’s allegation of sexual harassment by Snyder along with former Commanders executive Jason Friedman’s allegation of Snyder deliberately underreporting the team’s revenue to avoid its revenue-sharing obligations.
“We appreciate the diligence, thoroughness and professionalism of Ms. White and her team throughout this process,” Goodell said in a statement released by the league. “We pledged to share her findings publicly and are doing so today.”
In light of these findings, the NFL announced that Snyder has been fined $60 million.
Here’s is Mary Jo White’s conclusion in full:
After extensive investigation, we have sustained both Tiffani Johnston’s allegation of sexual harassment by Mr. Snyder and Jason Friedman’s allegation of deliberate underreporting of NFL revenues by the Club to avoid its VTS sharing obligations. We found that the evidence was insufficient to demonstrate Mr. Snyder’s involvement in the calendar photo incident or in the security deposit issues, and was inconclusive as to his personal participation in the Club’s improper shielding of VTS revenues. In the course of the Investigation, we also identified a variety of transactions and accounting entries, left unexplained by the Club, which raised a number of issues as to whether a significant portion of the revenues recorded were NFL-related revenues improperly shielded from VTS sharing.
Goodell also said in the release that “the conduct substantiated in Ms. White’s findings has no place in the NFL” and “what Ms. Johnston experienced is inappropriate and contrary to the NFL’s values.”
CBS Sports previously reported that Johnston told the roundtable that she was “strategically” seated by Snyder at a work dinner so he could put “his hand on the middle of my thigh until I physically removed it.” Johnston said that this came without her consent and that Snyder touched her in a sexual manner. She added that later that night, Snyder “aggressively pushed” her toward his limo before his attorney intervened. In her findings, Mary Jo White said that Johnston was found to be “highly credible” and her account of the incident was corroborated by other witnesses.
Meanwhile, the investigation also found that approximately $11 million in NFL revenues appear to have been improperly shielded and a “significant portion of the approximately $44 million of Deferred Income Transfers may also represent shareable revenue received by the Club during the 2009–2015 seasons that was improperly shielded from sharing to the extent required by League policies.”
The full findings can be read here.
The league-wide approval for Snyder to sell the Commanders to Josh Harris is for a reported $6 billion. To put it in further context, Snyder’s $60 million fine is just one percent of what he just made with this sale of the Washington franchise.
