Dan Snyder's former partners would shed no tears if Mary Jo White's report leads to criminal charges
Mark Davis might finally get his revenge for Daniel Snyder’s role, if any, in forcing Jon Gruden out as coach of the Raiders.
Davis and his partners could also get revenge for Snyder’s team basically picking their pockets by, as Mary Jo White concluded, improperly misdirecting money that should have been shared with the rest of the league. Given the possibility that White’s report will provide a blueprint for a prosecution of Snyder, one source with knowledge of ownership dynamics said, “I don’t think anybody in the room would fight that.”
Whether it happens remains to be seen. While the rest of the owners might not mind a legal predicament for Snyder, the real question is whether any of them will be sufficiently motivated to agitate privately (or publicly) for a prosecution.
There could be statute of limitations issues with some of the state and federal laws that might have been broken by the fraudulent scheme aimed at keeping money that rightfully belonged to Snyder’s partners in the Commanders’ coffers. But there are always arguments that could be made to try to get around the possibility that too much time has passed. “I didn’t do it” is always a much better defense to criminal charges than, “I did it, but you waited too long to indict me.”
For now, Snyder paid a $60 million fine, something that surely was negotiated by the league and Snyder’s lawyers as part of any other lingering issues that were resolved before the sale was finalized. It’s hard not to wonder whether Snyder’s decision to put the team up for sale in November 2022 was sparked by the knowledge that White had found enough evidence to prove that financial misappropriation had occurred — and that if he didn’t walk away, his partners would make him run.
Think of how different the sale process would have gone if Snyder had been forced to sell. He might not have gotten to $6 billion if there was no ability to pull the team off the table and keep it. And the rest of the league would have every reason to go along with creating the impression of a voluntary sale, because the other teams benefit (but for increased estate-tax obligations) from the value of their franchise going up and up and up.
Snyder is currently down and out, as far as the NFL is concerned. Whether White’s report puts him in a different legal jackpot remains to be seen.
Source: NBC Sports
