An attorney representing Dan Snyder's latest accuser issued a statement slamming the "sham of an investigation" announced by the Washington Commanders owner on Wednesday.
Wednesday morning, Washington issued a statement announcing that Snyder had hired an independent investigative team to look into allegations made by Tiffani Johnston, a former team employee who testified in front of Congress last week.
Johnston, a former cheerleader and marketing director for the team (2002-2008), accused Snyder of making an unwanted sexual advance towards her, alleging that Snyder had once put his hand on her thigh underneath a dinner table. Johnston went on to accuse Snyder of an aggressive attempt to push her into his limousine later that same evening.
Johnston was among six former employees to participate in a roundtable discussion in front of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Capitol Hill last week.
Snyder has now retained attorneys from Pallas Global Group LLC to investigate Johnston's claims, saying that the findings of their investigation will be released to the public. This after Snyder himself has already publicly denied the allegations made by Johnston against him.
Lisa Banks, an attorney representing Johnston and other former Washington employees who've made sexual harassment claims against the organization, lambasted Snyder's Wednesday announcement as a "desperate public relations stunt" while saying that her client "will not participate in this sham of an investigation."
"The idea that Dan Snyder has hired a team to investigate his own actions is utterly absurd. This is a desperate public relations stunt, clearly designed to absolve him of wrongdoing. Our client, Tiffani Johnston, already testified credibly to Congress about her experience of being sexually harassed by Mr. Snyder. Her powerful testimony was corroborated by an eyewitness who submitted a statement to Congress. If there is to be any investigation of Ms. Johnston's allegations, it should be conducted by Beth Wilkinson and her team, who have spent the better part of the last year investigating the actions of Mr. Snyder and his top lieutenants. The fact is that Mr. Snyder has gone to great lengths to conceal the truth and his retention of this team is just his latest effort to paint a false picture of his behavior.
"If, as Mr. Snyder claims today, he genuinely wanted the truth about his actions to emerge, he would have embraced the public release of Ms. Wilkinson's findings. Instead, he worked with the NFL to block the release of the Wilkinson report. And now, he has handpicked new investigators to do what apparently the Wilkinson report did not do — sugarcoat his own actions. Ms. Johnston will not participate in this sham of an investigation, and the public will not be duped into believing that this is anything other than Dan Snyder trying to whitewash his own misconduct."
Jordan Siev, an attorney representing Snyder, has issued his own statement countering Banks, saying that Johnston's testimony to Congress was not made under oath while also noting that Johnston declined to participate in a prior investigation of Washington's workplace culture conducted by Beth Wilkinson.
"Lisa Banks and her client have complained that Ms. Wilkinson's investigation was deficient in that there was no report issued. The Commanders have now engaged an independent oversight firm to engage and oversee independent legal counsel and conduct a full investigation of Ms. Johnston's newly-raised allegation, which allegation was not made under oath. The independent investigators and independent legal counsel will release their findings publicly.
"It is notable that Ms. Johnston declined to participate in the prior Wilkinsons investigation, yet her counsel is now pushing for Ms. Wilkinson to investigate the very matter Ms. Johnston refused to discuss with her during that investigation."
Meanwhile, an NFL spokesperson has come out to correct the record that has apparently been misconstrued by Snyder, clarifying the league, not the Washington Commanders, will be conducting the independent investigation into Johnston's claims against Snyder.
"Last week, the league stated that we will review and consider Ms. Johnston's allegations as we would any others regarding workplace conduct at the Washington Commanders. The league, not the team, will conduct an independent investigation and will be retaining an investigator to determine the facts shortly."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would go on to have the final word, telling reporters during his annual state-of-the-league press conference later on Wednesday that the league would be controlling all investigations.
"I do not see any way that a team can do its own investigation of itself," Goodell said. "That's something that we would do."
"We would do it with an outside expert that would be able to help us come to the conclusion of what the facts were and what really, truly happened so we can make the right decision from there," he said.
