The Commanders American football team is accused of deceiving fans about their efforts to investigate a hostile and misogynist workplace.
The team owner is accused of colluding with the league to deceive the public.
The team has been accused of sexual harassment in the past.
The team is willing to defend the organization in court.
The lawsuit was announced by the attorney general.
When faced with public outrage over detailed and widespread allegations of sexual misconduct, the Commanders, Mr Snyder and NFL officials made a series of public statements to convince the public that their conduct was limited and that they were fully cooperating with an independent third party.
All that deception was done to protect their profits.
The Attorney General's office is trying to get the findings of a previous investigation into working conditions at the American football franchise to be made public.
The findings of that investigation had been resisted by the league and its commissioner. An investigation being carried out by the National Football League is expected to be made public.
There are a number of allegations against the team, including voyeuristic videos of partially clad cheerleaders and the firing of a cheerleader who reported sexual misdeeds by a player.
According to the lawsuit, the owners of the Washington DC team colluded to "deceive" the city's residents and entered into an agreement that the public didn't know about.
Damages are not clear in the case.
An unacceptable workplace culture had existed within their organisation for several years and they have apologized many times for allowing that to happen.
The public needs to know the truth. "Although the lawsuit repeats a lot of innuendo, half-truths and lies, we welcome this opportunity to defend the organisation in a court of law and to establish, once and for all, what is fact and what is fiction."
The NFL's lawsuit was not comment on by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Following the shooting of a player during an attempted robbery three months ago, the team sparred with the Attorney General's office.
In a statement sent to the Washington Post, the team accused Mr Racine of using his position and the investigation to make "splashy headlines" instead of doing the hard work of making the streets safe for our citizens.
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