Former Commanders Co-Owner Sues Claiming Underpayment in Team Sale
WASHINGTON — A former co-owner of Washington, D.C.’s, professional football team is suing Bank of America over his allegations that he was deceived into selling his stake in the Commanders for far less than its value.
Tampa, Florida, billionaire Robert Rothman says in his lawsuit that he and two other minority investors sold their 40% share of the Commanders to team owner Dan Snyder for $875 million in April 2021. The price was derived from a Bank of America valuation of the team at less than $3 billion.
In July 2023, Snyder sold the Commanders for $6.05 billion.
Rothman’s lawsuit says the lower valuation he was told “was the culmination of [Bank of America] and Snyder’s conspiratorial conduct.”
The lawsuit says the bank ignored indications Snyder mismanaged the team’s accounts and engaged in self-dealing that hid the team’s true value.
By overlooking “Snyder’s improper and illegal dealings,” Bank of America “knew or reasonably anticipated that Snyder would have to sell the franchise as a result of Snyder’s indebtedness,” says the lawsuit filed in federal court in Tampa.
Rothman, who is chairman and CEO of Black Diamond Capital, does not name Snyder or National Football League officials as defendants despite alleging they “conspired” against him.
An example of the bank’s improper business dealings was its 2018 approval of a $55 million credit line taken out by Snyder on a team account without his minority partners’ approval, the lawsuit says.
The bank allowed Snyder to draw $38 million from the account “without verifying Snyder had obtained board approval,” the lawsuit says. The team’s bylaws require that loans to pay business expenses be approved by the board of directors, according to the lawsuit.
About the same time, Snyder was “self-dealing” by using income from the football franchise to pay questionable expenses, such as $3.5 million to put a team logo on his private jet and $7 million for “yacht(s), residential properties, personal staff, automobiles, and other personal entertainment and lifetime expenses,” according to the lawsuit.
Despite evidence of financial mismanagement, NFL officials declined to investigate Snyder, which was part of the reason Rothman’s lawsuit blamed them for what he says was an underpayment to him.
He seeks at least $75 million in compensatory damages.
Bank of America said only that it would vigorously defend against the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is Rothman v. Bank of America Corp., Case No. 8:23-cv-02969, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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