Report: Washington Commanders under criminal investigation by US attorney's office in Virginia

The same day news broke Dan Snyder is exploring selling the Washington Commanders, more information is coming to light. The organization is under investigation, ESPN reported.

According to ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia has opened a criminal investigation into alleged financial improprieties. In April, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform received a letter alleging deceptive business practices by the Commanders, and Van Natta reported that triggered the investigation. The 20-page letter that the Commanders kept two sets of books while withholding more than $5 million worth of refundable security deposits from ticket holders.

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The Commanders’ attorney, John Brownlee, provided a statement through a team spokesperson denying the report and calling out ESPN for its reporting.

“It is not surprising that ESPN is publishing more falsehoods based solely on anonymous sources — given today’s announcement,” the statement said. “…We are confident that, after these agencies have had a chance to review the documents and complete their work, they will come to the same conclusion as the team’s internal review — that these allegations are simply untrue.”

Washington Commanders owners Dan and Tanya Snyder hire Bank of America ‘to consider potential transactions’

Washington Commanders owners Dan and Tanya Snyder have brought on Bank of America Securities to help facilitate potential transactions that the Snyders are considering, they said in a release on Wednesday.

The release came shortly after a Forbes story breaking the news that the embattled owners of the Commanders are in the early stages of potentially selling part — or all — of the NFL franchise.

“Dan and Tanya Snyder and the Washington Commanders announced today that they have hired BofA Securities to consider potential transactions.”

Snyder originally bought the franchise — at that point in time adorned with a slur toward indigenous Americans as a nickname — for a then record-setting $800 million in 1999. In light of Wednesday’s news, Front Office Sports tweeted that Forbes had recently valued the Commanders franchise at $5.6, meaning a full sale of the team would be the most expensive in the history of sports.

Pressure both from the public and fellow owners for the Snyders to vamoose from the league has grown in years and ratcheted up in recent weeks. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has spoken publicly about how perhaps enough owners wish to eschew the owners of the lately scandal-ridden Washington franchise.