Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder alleges former team president Bruce Allen played role in negative stories

Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder's efforts to clear his name amid allegations of widespread sexual harassment and misconduct toward women formerly employed by his organization remains ongoing. His latest target is none other than former team president Bruce Allen, who once ranked among Snyder's closest advisers.

Snyder filed a request in federal court for permission for his attorneys to search the communications of Allen, believing the former team official is one of the sources of the negative reports that have surfaced about him.

News of Snyder’s request to search Allen’s text messages and other communications was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Snyder had filed a lawsuit in India against a media outlet called MEAWW after the company reported unsubstantiated allegations against him around the time that the Washington Post published a series of stories revealing sexual misconduct allegations against Washington team officials.

In the court filing, Snyder's legal team argued that Allen, who was fired in 2019 after a decade of employment, may be a source of the negative reports because he is never mentioned in the articles despite holding a "hands-on role in running the Team on a day-to-day basis."

The court filing also alleges that Allen spoke at length with Baltimore investment banker John Moag, who represented the team's three minority owners, all of whom took legal action against Snyder after he tried to block their sell of their shares of the team. However, late last month, Snyder received approval from the NFL’s other owners to incur additional debt to buy out his three former partners. That lawsuit against Snyder was dropped, and he and his family control 100% of the football team

Snyder's legal team alleges that Allen and Moag shared many text messages and lengthy telephone conversations leading up to the publication of the articles. Snyder previously had accused the wife of former general manager Scot McLoughan, Jessica, of leaking unflattering reports about him to the media in an attempt to defame him.

The NFL's investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations leveled by a group of women employed by the team, including cheerleaders, remains ongoing.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daniel Snyder seeks to search ex-WFT prez Bruce Allen's communications