UEFA files legal discovery motions in three U.S. courts against FIFA and investors over failed World Cup scheme

UEFA filed ex parte discovery applications (documents requested without the respondents present) in three U.S. federal courts on Thursday, per Front Office Sports. The filings targeted the Southern District of New York, Southern District of Florida, and District of Colorado. The applications seek information from FIFA, president Gianni Infantino, Thrive Capital, and former Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei regarding the FIFA Forward Enterprise, a secretive plan to sell equity stakes in FIFA's revenue streams.

Europe's soccer governing body is gathering documents to support anticipated criminal charges against Infantino in Switzerland, per Front Office Sports. UEFA and other interested parties claim they intend to bring criminal charges in Swiss courts against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal mismanagement of the FFE structure, valuation, financing, and marketing.

Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm based in New York and founded by Josh Kushner (brother of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner), was the lead and only listed outside investor in Infantino's proposal. The scheme valued FIFA at approximately $20 billion and called for a $4.2 billion investment from outside investors, per Front Office Sports. Maffei, based in Colorado, was involved through his firm Bann and was described by FIFA as a key commercial adviser in the FFE establishment. FIFA maintains offices in Miami. Front Office Sports reports that Kushner and Maffei's firm are not anticipated defendants in an eventual Swiss criminal case, though UEFA's filing characterizes FFE as a vehicle for Infantino and a small circle to acquire permanent stakes in FIFA's most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA and its members.

UEFA seeks documents about FFE's formation, communications between stakeholders, investor pitch decks, valuation models, and other materials. The governing body wants to understand how FIFA arrived at what UEFA calls an absurdly low enterprise value of approximately $20 billion, per Front Office Sports. In the filing, UEFA alleges that the $4.2 billion investment figure is a fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit.

The FFE plan was called off on July 31, per Front Office Sports. Earlier this month, Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a deal to purchase the majority of the Los Angeles Lakers. According to Financial Times reporting cited by Front Office Sports, Kushner brought the FIFA idea to Maffei last summer. J.P. Morgan was also involved in the proposal, per Front Office Sports, but is not named in UEFA's legal filings.

FIFA, Thrive Capital, and Maffei did not immediately respond to requests for comment, per Front Office Sports. On Wednesday, several outlets reported that UEFA would drop its boycott of all FIFA tournaments ahead of the upcoming Women's U-20 World Cup, per Front Office Sports. UEFA had originally threatened to boycott all FIFA tournaments following the FFE proposal announcement and maintained the threat for weeks after the plan was abandoned. UEFA had claimed it lacked guarantees that FIFA would not attempt a similar scheme in the future.