The Washington Commanders have reached a settlement with Maryland authorities to return security deposits paid by hundreds of season ticket holders to purchase premium seats and luxury suites — money the team held on to, in some cases, for years.
A news release from the office of Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said the Commanders have agreed to refund the security deposits within 30 days, and will also pay a $250,000 civil penalty.
The settlement from Frosh’s office said the team held on to fans’ money — even after the contracts expired — unless fans made a request in writing to have their deposit returned to them. His office said the practice amounted to deceiving consumers.
“For many years, the Commanders kept money that was not theirs. It belongs to their customers,” Frosh said in a statement. “Today’s settlement will require the team to return the monies owed to consumers. The Commanders will pay a penalty, and they will be enjoined from engaging in similar practices in the future.”
The Commanders, which denied wrongdoing, said it is currently “under-taking a large-scale effort” to send notices to more than 1,800 account holders. The team said it has already returned “tens of thousands of dollars of deposits” to ticket-holders.
Frosh’s office said it began looking into unrefunded security deposits after it was referred the matter by the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which has conducted numerous probes of the team.
The team has been under intense scrutiny over its financial practices, as well as allegations of sexual harassment in its leadership organization.
Earlier this week, D.C. Attorney Karl Racine announced his office had filed a lawsuit alleging “egregious misconduct and illegal conduct” by the team over similar practices related to the refunding of season ticket-holders’ security deposits.
Racine’s office said the Commanders still have nearly $200,000 in unreturned security deposits, as of March.
Last week, Racine also filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the team and the NFL saying both organizations had “repeatedly lied to and deceived” D.C. consumers about their investigations into the team’s harassment and abuse allegations in order to cover them up and to continue “to rake in profits.”
Asked for comment about the settlement with Maryland, a spokesperson for the team referred the same statement sent Thursday saying the team did a review of deposits in 2014 and has since conducted an audit of finances and found no evidence of intentionally withholding ticket money or converted unclaimed funds into revenue.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.