Washington Commanders strongly deny financial misconduct in letter to Federal Trade Commission

The Washington Commanders on Monday strongly disputed claims of financial improprieties in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, laying out the case for why there should be no investigation by the government institution.

The 22-page letter, written by team attorney Jordan Siev and addressed to FTC chair Lina M. Khan and obtained by ESPN, rebutted allegations by former team employee Jason Friedman that the team had engaged in nefarious financial practices, impacting consumers and the NFL, to increase their revenue. In addition to the letter, there were 83 pages of signed affidavits, emails and texts.

Paul Szczenski, the team's former director of finance for more than eight years, said in a signed affidavit that, «I can state unequivocally that I never helped maintain, or saw anyone else maintain, a 'second set' of books.'» He was one of three former high-ranking team officials who submitted signed affidavits.

Those points were made by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in a letter to the FTC last week, highlighting allegations made by Friedman, who spent 24 years in the organization's ticket department as the vice president of sales and customer service. He was fired in October 2020, two months after Jason Wright took over as team president.

The FTC acknowledged receiving the letter, but typically does not state whether or not it will investigate the matter. It also could be turned over to the attorney generals in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia; all were copied on the letter to the FTC.

Washington's letter called Friedman's claims «baseless» as well as «false and reckless» and based on «pure speculation,» according to Mitch Gershman, Washington's former chief operating officer, who left the team in