Jeff Bezos linked with purchase of NFL's Washington Football Team: Report

World's richest man Jeff Bezos has long wanted an ownership stake in an NFL franchise, and the Washington Football Team might present the current Amazon CEO with the perfect opportunity. Bezos has reportedly held talks about buying a stake in the team. However, the process is likely to be straightforward, with majority owner Dan Snyder and other stakeholders locked in a legal battle. 

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Is Jeff Bezos buying Washington Football Team? World's richest man linked with NFL franchise's stake 

According to court documents obtained by Front Office Sports, Jeff Bezos' attorney spoke with Baltimore-based sports investment banking firm Moag & Co. which led the effort to sell a chunk of the team. Majority owner Dan Snyder’s claims that the real estate executive Dwight Schar was one of the three minority shareholders that led “an extortion campaign” to force Snyder to sell his stake. Now, on Monday, a filing that mentions Bezos’ attorney was made in a New Delhi courtroom. It was in line with Snyder's ongoing lawsuit against the Indian media company MEA WorldWide. 

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In the 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. The report states 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. The documents stated that Moag had texted "Keep an eye on the Redskins, it’s getting very interesting,” to 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. 

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The alleged misinformation campaign began after stories of workplace harassment of former and current women employees of The Washington Football Team were released by the New York Post. Moag was hired by the team’s three minority owners to explore a sale of their shares in the team. The Washington Post had reported that Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano had offered to purchase the minority stake of about 40% but Snyder used his right of first refusal to block Schar from selling his stake. Moag in the past has denied being part of or having any knowledge of, the alleged misinformation campaign. The Washington Football Team is the eighth-most valuable NFL team, according to Forbes. The team is valued at $3.5 billion and has seen its value rise 8% on an annualised basis over the last several years.

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(Image Courtesy: AP)