District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine announced there’d be a “major announcement” related to his office’s investigation of the Washington Commanders on Thursday.
Racine didn’t state in Wednesday’s press advisory what his office’s investigation into the Commanders and owner Dan Snyder found. A spokesperson declined further comment when reached by Front Office Sports.
The news comes a week after Snyder announced the team was exploring a potential sale.
It’s not immediately clear whether Racine would pursue a lawsuit against Snyder and/or the Commanders over those allegations, but it’s not likely to result in any criminal charges — at least immediate ones.
“The Commanders have fully cooperated with the AG’s investigation for nearly a year,” a Commanders spokesperson said in a statement to FOS. “As recently as Monday, a lawyer for the team met with the AG who did not suggest at that time that he intended to take any action and, in fact, revealed fundamental misunderstandings of the underlying facts. It is unfortunate that, in his final days in office, Mr. Racine appears more interested in making splashy headlines, based on offbeat legal theories, rather than doing the hard work of making the streets safe for our citizens, including bringing to justice the people who shot one of our players.”
The focus of the D.C. Attorney General’s Office under the D.C. Charter is “upholding the public interest.” While the office can prosecute some crimes, Racine would likely need to work with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to file charges related to any criminal misconduct.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia told FOS that it won’t be part of the news conference.
Racine could, however, forward a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney. The Justice Department would then conduct its own investigation.
The attorneys general in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia launched probes into the Commanders after they each received a copy of a letter from the House Oversight Committee, which is expected to release its final findings in the coming weeks.
That letter — which was also sent to the Federal Trade Commission — in April detailed a series of allegations of financial improprieties.
