European soccer federation eyes criminal case against FIFA boss

Under a now-abandoned plan, Thrive Capital and Joshua Kushner were to pay $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in World Cup profits.MANHATTAN (CN) — The Union of European Football Associations on Thursday signaled plans to bring criminal charges in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino stemming from the soccer chief’s scrapped plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.The Nyon, Switzerland-based UEFA, which governs soccer associations in Europe, filed a petition in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York asking for discovery from Thrive Capital Management, a New York investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner — the younger brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.Without consulting the FIFA Council or its member associations, UEFA says, Infantino announced plans in late July to place the commercial rights to World Cup events into a subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise. Thrive Capital and Joshua Kushner were to pay $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in the enterprise.Infantino, a 56-year-old Swiss lawyer, publicly claimed the plan would “unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has,” but UEFA framed the enterprise as a vehicle for FIFA’s leader and a “small circle of co-conspirators” to acquire a permanent stake in, and profit from, soccer’s top governing body, “to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.”After UEFA and other associations threatened to boycott all FIFA events, and a senior adviser to Infantino resigned in protest, the plan collapsed within a few days. “The withdrawal of the transaction did not, however, restore confidence in the process by which it was developed or in the officials who developed it,” UEFA said, noting that top FIFA officials were reportedly deceived or kept out of the yearlong talks about monetizing the World Cup.Noting that Joshua Kushner and his firm are among the few parties with knowledge of those discussions, UEFA asked the court for leave to subpoena them for documents, communications and deposition testimony in support of the anticipated Swiss criminal proceedings.“The valuation work exchanged with Thrive, and any internal Thrive analyses of FIFA’s enterprise value, are directly probative of whether the $4.2 billion price reflected an arm’s-length valuation of FIFA’s commercial rights or, as the public record indicates, a fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit,” UEFA wrote.In the aftermath of the now-abandoned FIFA sell-off plan, Infantino has faced growing calls for his resignation.FIFA did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads