Report: Court document reveals details of Dan Snyder's 2009 sexual assault allegation

Court documents obtained by The Washington Post have revealed details have sexual assault allegations against Washington Commanders team owner Dan Snyder that stem from an incident that took place in 2009.

On Tuesday, ESPN reported the details gained from The Washington Post regarding the allegations.

“A woman accused Snyder of sexually harassing and assaulting her on a team plane in 2009, and she was later paid $1.6 million by the team to settle. The woman’s allegations and settlement were previously reported by the Post in December 2020, but specific details of the allegations were not disclosed,” wrote ESPN. “The settlement had been previously revealed in legal filings related to more recent investigations of the team. The woman agreed not to sue the team or publicly disclose her allegations as part of the settlement.

“Snyder denied the woman’s allegations, according to the attorney’s letter, and a team investigation accused her of making up the claims in an attempt to extort him.”

Additionally, ESPN adds the contents of the aforementioned letter were revealed one day prior to a hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, who is investigating Snyder’s team for their workplace culture.

Prior, the NFL has fined Snyder’s franchise $10 million, causing the owner to step away from operations after an investigation yielded results that the team’s workplace culture was abusive to woman, but the NFL declined to release the findings.

Moreover, the allegations haven’t stopped there, as ESPN added, “the committee has since uncovered an allegation of sexual harassment by Snyder. A former team employee told the committee that Snyder groped her at a team dinner and tried to force her into his limousine, claims that Snyder denied.”

More controversies have come to light, which triggered another investigation from the NFL, led by former U.S. attorney and chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Jo White. Additionally, White is also looking into claims of financial improprieties by a former vice president of sales for the team, and her findings will be made public, according to ESPN.

Continuing, ESPN added that the letter obtained by The Washington Post was written by Howard Shapiro, who is an attorney at the WilmerHale law firm, which had helped the team investigate the woman’s allegations. While Shapiro wrote that the woman’s allegations were “knowingly false,” the attorney did not wish to comment to The Washington Post.

“According to the letter, the woman accused Snyder of asking her for sex, groping her and trying to take off her clothes in a private, partitioned area at the back of a team plane during a return flight from a trip to Las Vegas,” wrote ESPN.

“The letter stated that none of the other passengers on the flight supported the woman’s account. Others said the door to the back area of the plane was open for most of the flight and that other passengers and flight attendants were frequently present in that section, according to the letter.”