Daniel Snyder paid $1.6 million to settle sexual misconduct claim in 2009

Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder came under fire earlier this year when several of his former employees were accused of sexual harassment. None of the claims were made directly against Snyder, but we now know that there was at least one such allegation against him in the past.

According to a confidential settlement reviewed by the Washington Post, Snyder was accused by a former female employee of sexual misconduct on a private plane in 2009. Snyder paid the woman $1.6 million as part of the settlement.

A person who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Post that the alleged incident occurred on a flight back from the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. In court records that were filed Monday as part of an ongoing feud among Snyder and Washington’s other owners, the allegation was referred to as “a serious accusation of sexual misconduct.”

The former Washington employee made what were described as “certain allegations” in April 2009. The agreement did not describe the allegations in detail and did not include any admission of wrongdoing from Snyder or the team. The woman was fired for cause, but she and the team agreed that her personnel file would be changed to indicate she voluntarily resigned from her position.

Several current and former Washington employees described a workplace littered with sexual harassment and misconduct in a bombshell story from the Post earlier this year. Snyder hired a firm to investigate the claims. There have since been reports that the team’s minority owners are trying to pressure him to sell.