In many cases involving a potential criminal investigation, the suspect exercises the prerogative to say nothing. Sometimes, a party that believes it is wrongfully accused shouts its innocence from the rooftops.
The Washington Commanders are shouting their innocence from the rooftops, as it relates to the recent allegations of financial impropriety made by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Reform to the Federal Trade Commission.
In an 18-page letter, lawyer Jordan Siev makes the case on behalf of the Commanders that no wrongdoing occurred. To summarize, Siev says former Washington employee Jason Friedman has repeatedly and extensively lied.
Siev’s letter refers to Friedman as, for example, a “vindictive former ticket salesman,” and it calls his testimony “uncorroborated” and “false.
“Friedman is, by his own repeated admissions to the Committee, a serial liar,” Siev alleges. “During the course of his testimony to the Committee, Friedman admitted to having previously perjured himself in a civil litigation connected with his employment with the Team. He also admitted that he sent at least two letters to Dan Snyder, the content of which Friedman now claims he fabricated out of whole cloth. Yet Friedman now asks the Committee and by extension, this Commission to accept as true his testimony and his letters to the Committee, the very types of arenas in which he already has admitted to freely lying on a whim.”
Siev’s letter also claims that Friedman was fired for “professional misconduct” in October 2020, that he thereafter made multiple attempts to get his job back, and that the team has “recently learned that, in addition to the abusive behavior for which he was fired, Friedman had been involved in a lengthy sexual relationship with his former intern . . . 15 years his junior, who later became a part-time employee at the Team, still reporting to Friedman.” Siev’s letter claims that Friedman “took steps to conceal that ongoing relationship from Team officials, the National Football League and other organizations,” and that the “Committee was aware of all of these facts, yet pointedly declined to reference them in its letter to” the FTC.
The letter quotes sworn declarations from former Washington general counsel David Donovan, who calls Friedman “untrustworthy,” from former COO Mitch Gershman, who describes Friedman’s testimony as displaying a “willingness to fabricate facts” and containing “numerous false and speculative allegations,” and from former director of finance Paul Szczenski, who calls Friedman’s statements “false, speculative, uninformed, and guesswork” and who contends that Friedman “has attempted to fabricate claims about the Team’s accounting staff.”
It’s a strong collection of allegations against Friedman, one that is bound to trigger a response from his attorney, Lisa Banks. Whereas a previous attack on Friedman’s claims to Congress didn’t mention him by name, Siev’s letter constitutes an all-out offensive against him.
Right or wrong, true or false, the Commanders have made their case in a loud, clear voice. They believe Friedman was lying and/or grossly misinformed. And they claim that the Committee was aware of these alleged flaws in his credibility.