GENEVA (AP) — A judge in Manhattan on Thursday denied requests by FIFA subsidiaries to block European soccer body UEFA’s attempts to get evidence about Gianni Infantino’s failed World Cup private investor plan.
UEFA filed court documents in August as part of wider strategy to remove Infantino as FIFA president, which includes a potential criminal complaint against him personally in Switzerland for alleged financial mismanagement.
Lawyers for UEFA seek discovery of evidence from Joshua Kushner’s New York investment firm Thrive and FIFA advisors JP Morgan about the World Cup sell-off plan in July that provoked a furor in global soccer politics.
In a Manhattan district court on Thursday, motions to intervene by two FIFA subsidiaries failed because they “do not have a direct, substantial and legally protectable interest” in the proceedings, the judge wrote.
“Nothing in this record indicates that the US FIFA parties, or even FIFA itself, will be parties in the contemplated criminal proceedings,” the ruling by Judge Jeannette Vargas stated.
“Certainly the US FIFA parties have not alleged facts suggesting they would be defendants in such a proceeding,” the judge in the district court of the Southern District of New York wrote in an eight-page document seen by The Associated Press.
Fallout from the private investor plan — which was dropped within days after a global backlash — has caused the biggest crisis for Infantino in his near 11-year FIFA presidency. He plans to stand for reelection in March and will need to pass an eligibility and integrity check by a FIFA-appointed panel.
Thrive and Kushner, the younger brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, were to be the anchor investor in the secretive plan called FIFA Forward Enterprise.
Investors intended to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a permanent stake of more than 20% in the FFE subsidiary that would run the soccer body’s tournaments including the World Cup.
The 211 member federations of FIFA, who already effectively own the Zurich-based not-for-profit, were offered $20 million payments each to approve the project. FIFA's cash reserves rose to more than $5 billion after the men's World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico ended in July.
UEFA has filed requests for discovery in multiple states, and FIFA in September told a judge in Florida, where the governing body has offices in a Miami suburb, the court actions are a harassment of Infantino.
Infantino faces at least one election challenger — veteran Japanese official Kohzo Tashima — ahead of a deadline next Wednesday for candidates to enter the contest. Tashima has been a colleague of Infantino’s on FIFA’s 37-member ruling council since 2016.
UEFA is expected to propose another candidate, with ongoing efforts to persuade FIFA’s head of global development Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal coach, to stand against his current boss.
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FILE - FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, greets Japan soccer association President Kohzo Tashima prior to the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at a stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
