Dan Snyder Approved the Firing of Cheerleader for Having a Relationship with Football Player, but No Action Was Taken Against Player (pp. 93-97)
Q: Mr. Pauken, you mentioned earlier that prior to your arriving at the Commanders, you believed that there was a policy that perhaps governed the conduct of cheerleaders; is that correct?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you tell me about that policy?
A: I believe when I got there, there was some policy in place which, as I mentioned, I reviewed and edited. And it covered the conduct of the cheerleaders and perhaps other matters I can't recall. Included in there was a prohibition against relationships with football players, other team staff, and I don't know—I don't recall how far it went in the definition of relationships, but it included not having sex with players. That was the intent of it. …
Q: Do you know if that policy was ever violated during your tenure?
A: It was.
Q: Do you recall when
A: Yes. This would have been the 2005 season. There were two cheerleaders involved, [REDACTED]. And the player involved—and I mention this because this is all publicly reported, was Chris Cooley. It came to my attention, and I don’t recall how, that [REDACTED] had been involved in a sexual relationship with Chris Cooley. It was credible information. I had Donald Wells confront [REDACTED] about it, [REDACTED] reported to Donald Wells and validated what was happening. And it was a violation of the policy with the cheerleaders to have sex with a player. I talked to Dan about it, and he said that we should fire [REDACTED] and I agreed with him. Frankly, I agreed with him we should fire [REDACTED]. And then told Donald to fire [REDACTED], and we did. … And unfortunately, this was a situation where the female employee was treated differently than the male. The female employees were fired, the male employee was—there were no repercussions other than he was restricted from additional sex with the cheerleaders. This story is fairly widely publicized.
Q: Was Chris Cooley ultimately hired by Dan Snyder to work on the business side of the Washington Commanders?
A: Yes, I believe that he was after I left. He was in some capacity
Dan Snyder Said to “Keep Cheerleaders Skinny and With Big ####” (pp. 64-65)...
Mr. Snyder Invited Mr. Pauken and Others on Weekend Trip Where “We’ve Got Girls Lined Up,” Which Mr. Pauken Believed Were Prostitutes (pp. 142-45)
... we’re going to go have a day trip to Minneapolis, go there, watch the game, come home.
And like I’m working a lot, I’ve got three kids, et cetera, and I’m leaving to go on a day trip on a Saturday, I think it was on a Saturday. I’m pretty sure it was a Saturday. And so I go. I get on the plane, and I get in the air. And I’m told that we’re going to be gone for a couple of days.
And I said, hey, Dan, you told me this was a day trip. I told [REDACTED]— [REDACTED] is my wife—I would be home tonight. And also, I have no luggage. I didn’t bring anything. And, look, to Dan, these are irrelevant details, okay, because you can call your wife and say you’ll be a few days, and you can have somebody go out and buy you some clothes when you get to Minneapolis. These are just like not even relevant details.
And he said, we’ve got girls lined up, and there’s one for you. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to do with that, other than to know I was in trouble here and needed to figure out a way out. And we get to Minneapolis, we get over to the hotel that we’re staying in. And there are a number of beautiful women in this 6 hotel suite who are physically very affectionate and they—nobody said they were prostitutes. I assumed they were prostitutes. They had flown in from Dallas. And so we sat around, had drinks. I did my best to avoid being touched by them. They were very affectionate to Dan and other men who were with us. And when it came time to go to the game, they had tickets that were in a different place than our tickets because Dan’s a public figure, he’s not going to be sitting there next to these women...
“And He Would Ask Me for $500 … It Happened Again in 2005. And I Put It on My Expense Report to Get Reimbursed $500 Plus a $1.50 Charge” (pp. 147-49)
Q: Do you recall any other instances where Mr. Snyder brought girls to events on work travel or personal travel, or used girls’ services?
A: Yeah, I—so there was an instance in—I think, again, it was in 2001, and I know it happened again in 2005, where he and I were in New York. And we would be at a dinner, and we were walking back to the hotel. And he would ask me for $500. And I said, Dan, I don’t have $500. And I know better than to ask Dan if he has $500. Number one, he wouldn't be asking me if he had it. And number two, I know he didn’t really carry much cash, typically. And he said, well, can you get me $500 from a money machine? Now, he has a money card. He can get $500, but he asked me to get it. So I did.
And it’s late at night, and I give him the money and he goes to his room. And he says, I’ll see you in the morning. And, look, I wasn’t born yesterday. I’m not— there’s not too many things you need $500 for at 11:00 at night, where you’re staying at the St. Regis, where you can put anything on the tab that you might need.
And in my marriage, my wife keeps the checkbook and I don’t ever pull $500 out. I’ll pull 200 out, and it would be very unusual for me to pull $500 out in the evening. And she would notice that. She has an attention to detail. So I called her that night and told her what had happened. 7 After that, I told [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] that whenever I traveled, and they would know when I'm traveling, I wanted somebody to put at least $1,000 in cash in my hand, so that if I was ever asked for cash, I had it. And I didn’t want to be in a situation where I needed to call my wife again. I think in 2005 or—I don’t know what happened, but I—the same thing happened. We were in New York and I pulled $500 out of a Citibank. And I know this because I have my 2005 expense reports. I have my 2005 calendar. And there’s a receipt for a withdrawal at Citibank and—on my calendar that clearly says I flew to New York with Dan on Thursday and was with him all day on Friday. So it happened again in 2005. And I put it on my expense report to get reimbursed $500 plus a $1.50 charge.
I can keep going.
Q: Please...