UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint against Gianni Infantino following the FIFA president’s plan to sell off commercial stakes in the World Cup.
A 56-page document, filed by UEFA’s lawyers in a court in the United States, declares that UEFA is “preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino” for “criminal mismanagement”.
The filing states that Infantino’s hastily drawn-up plan to sell off a 20 per cent stake in the World Cup to private investors for $4.2bn represented “an absurdly low enterprise value” and accused the FIFA president of standing to gain financially in a process that was “neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer”.
The legal document seen by Sky News said: “UEFA and other interested parties are preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials and advisors for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code and such further or alternative charges as the developed factual record may support, arising out of the secretive structuring, valuation, financing, and marketing of a transaction that inflicted direct and concrete injury on FIFA’s reputation, governance authority, and commercial relationships to the detriment of FIFA as well as its 211 members, including UEFA’s 55 member associations.”
The application was lodged by UEFA in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against JP Morgan Bank as well as planned lead investor Thrive Capital and its CEO, Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
UEFA is targeting FIFA through courts in Miami, where the world body’s legal team is based.