On Thursday, UEFA announced to the Manhattan court that it had submitted documents requesting the retrieval of possible evidence from the New York investment fund “Thrive Capital Management,” founded by Joshua Kushner.
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UEFA also filed a request in the Southern District of Florida for permission to collect evidence in a “foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, whose offices are located in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.
“Thrive” and J. Kushner were to be the main investors intending to pay FIFA 4.2 billion USD for a 20 percent stake in a subsidiary that would manage the football organization’s commercial events, including the World Cup.
“UEFA and its lawyers are considering initiating criminal proceedings in Switzerland against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal negligence in asset management under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code,” states a 56-page document from UEFA’s lawyers, reviewed by the news agency The Associated Press.
The document states that the 4.2 billion USD amount may have been “fraudulently not a market price that Infantino declared for his own benefit.”
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Facing fierce opposition from world football leaders, including UEFA, G. Infantino abandoned the plan to sell rights earlier this month.
UEFA first threatened legal action on August 3, warning FIFA not to destroy or hide any material related to this plan.
“Infantino claimed that this plan ‘would reveal the commercial potential and opportunities that FIFA has,'” UEFA lawyers told the courts. “In reality, it was a means for Infantino and a narrow circle to gain a permanent share and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets, to the detriment of its members and other football family members.”
“Under the conditions announced by Infantino, those investors were to acquire a permanent financial stake in FIFA’s commercial branch for 4.2 billion USD, which implies an absurdly low total company value—only about 20 billion USD. This amount was neither the result of an open, competitive auction nor verified by an independent appraiser,” the documents state.
Representatives of FIFA and “Thrive” have not yet commented on the situation.
