Back in 2020, there were reports of Dwight Schar, Fred Smith, and Robert Rothman – whom, together, hold a 40 percent share of the Washington Football Team — “actively been trying to sell their pieces of the team,” but “have to date been unable to find a buyer.”
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believed the billionaire founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos will be the first name bandied about as a potential buyer.
“There aren’t a lot of guys out there that can write a check that would be large enough to buy a team and also run the team,” said Florio. “But Jeff Bezos is the first name that’s gonna pop up.”
It turns out he was correct.
“Bezos’ attorney spoke with Baltimore-based sports investment banking firm Moag & Co., which led the effort to sell a chunk of the team, according to court documents obtained by Front Office Sports.
On Monday morning, a filing that mentions Bezos’ attorney was made in a New Delhi courtroom. It was part of Snyder’s defamation lawsuit, originally filed in August, against Indian media company MEA WorldWide.
In that lawsuit, Snyder’s attorneys claimed that MEA WorldWide published a string of false stories and social media posts erroneously stating Snyder had ties to sex trafficking and was close to sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Snyder’s lawyers wrote that John Moag, the founder of Moag & Co., had advance knowledge of MEA WorldWide’s “corrupt disinformation campaign by, among other things, spreading malicious lies” about Snyder.
“Keep an eye on the Redskins, it’s getting very interesting,” Moag texted a person on July 3, 2020. Their name was redacted in a screen capture attached to the filing.
“Hopefully Snyder’s going,” the person responded.
The alleged misinformation campaign began on July 16, the same day The Washington Post published the first of two lengthy stories on allegations of workplace harassment by former and current women employees of The Washington Football Team.
Moag was hired by the team’s three minority owners to explore a sale of their shares in the team. Two California billionaires, Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, offered to purchase the minority stake of about 40%, The Washington Post reported.
Snyder used his right of first refusal to block Schar from selling his stake. The co-owners — who also include FedEx chief executive Fred Smith and investor Robert Rothman — sued Snyder for holding up the sale. That litigation that is pending in federal court.”
In 2003, Dan Snyder sold approximately 35-40% of the team to three individuals: 15% to Florida financier Robert Rothman (for around $200 million), 15% to real estate developer Dwight Schar (for around $200 million), and 5% to Frederick W. Smith, the CEO of FedEx (for around $67 million).
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Jeff Bezos is currently the wealthiest person in America, even after a ton of it went to his ex-wife in their divorce.
If Bezos wants to get into the league, money will be no obstacle.
