Dan Snyder Submits Court Filing Alleging Extortion by Washington Minority Owner

Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder submitted a court filing on Wednesday that accuses a team minority owner of attempted extortion.

Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder submitted a court filing on Wednesday accusing a team minority owner of attempted extortion. 

The filing, made in Maryland, states minority owner Dwight Schar allegedly tried to force Snyder to sell the franchise. Snyder cites Schar's involvement in Tuesday's report from the Washington Post that uncovered a $1.6 million payment by the Washington Football Team to a former female employee as part of a confidential settlement in 2009 after she described sexual misconduct by Snyder. 

"I firmly believe that Plaintiffs' motion and supplemental filing and the news articles that they have generated are the latest in the effort to extort me," the filing stated.

In court records filed Monday as part of a dispute between the team's owners, Snyder's business partners called the woman's account "a serious accusation of sexual misconduct." Snyder's filing countered several quotes from the Post's story and claim it gave a "misleading impression" of the merit to the allegations.

The 2009 settlement served to avoid negative publicity by Snyder rather than an admittance of sexual misconduct, per the Post. 

Snyder claims that no evidence of wrongdoing was found after an investigation by a law firm.

"Plaintiffs' purpose in submitting their supplemental filing is now clear: to try to continue to smear me in an effort to gain leverage in this business dispute," Snyder's filing reads. 

Snyder's three minority partners, Schar, Fred Smith and Bob Rothman, own a combined 40% of the team. They began to express interest in selling their shares this summer, but Snyder's reported offer to purchase them fell well below the franchise's value. 

The NFL is investigating Snyder and the Washington Football franchise after another Washington Post report in July featured former female employees describing their experiences with sexual harassment within the organization. In August, the Post published another report alleging a former senior executive instructed employees to create a behind-the-scenes video for Snyder featuring team cheerleaders, which Snyder has denied.