European soccer federation eyes criminal case against FIFA boss

Filed 40m ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Covert Affair

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Panamitsu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

UEFA filed a petition in a Manhattan federal court seeking discovery from Thrive Capital Management and Joshua Kushner to support anticipated Swiss criminal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino. At issue is Infantino's now-abandoned plan to sell a 20% stake in World Cup commercial rights to Thrive Capital for $4.2 billion, announced without consulting the FIFA Council.

UEFA alleges the deal was designed to let Infantino and a small circle of associates acquire a permanent stake in FIFA's profits, and that the collapse of the plan — after threatened boycotts and a senior adviser's resignation — did not restore confidence in how it was developed.

UEFA argues the $4.2 billion valuation may have been fraudulently off-market, and wants Thrive's internal analyses to test that claim. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

An organization that runs the world's most profitable sporting spectacle apparently could not be bothered to loop in its own governing council before quietly shopping the profits to a private equity firm. That the plan died only after a mass boycott threat, rather than any internal check, tells you plenty about how it got that far in the first place.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Covert Affair · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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