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Uefa preparing criminal legal action against Infantino
Confirmed
In a court filing on Thursday, UEFA said it is preparing a criminal complaint in Swiss courts against Infantino over possible financial mismanagement related to his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors , including a company founded by Joshua Kushner.
UEFA, which issued a blistering statement saying it had lost confidence in Infantino's leadership at FIFA, first threatened to take legal action on Aug. 3 when it warned FIFA against destroying or hiding any "relevant materials" related to the plan.
In an ex parte application filed on Thursday under US law, European football’s governing body said it is considering criminal proceedings against Infantino and potentially other FIFA officials and advisers over a now-abandoned plan to transfer commercial rights linked to men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup into a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
A statement sent to the media by Uefa said: "Those present unanimously mandated the Uefa president and administration to pursue every available institutional, political and legal avenue necessary to secure fundamental reform, restore proper limits on presidential authority and ensure that Fifa is once again governed as an institution – not around one individual.
In the application for evidence, Uefa said: "In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from Fifa's most valuable assets to the detriment of Fifa, its members, and other parties within the football family," Uefa's application says.
Uefa has led calls for Infantino to resign and declared that it had lost confidence in the Fifa president after he scrapped his World Cup sell-off plan. Infantino has remained in office after apologising for “mistakes” over the proposals, but Kevin Lamour, Fifa’s former chief operating officer who criticised the FFE plan and said Fifa staff had been "deceived" by its president, has since left the global governing body.
UEFA said after a meeting of Europe’s member associations in Monaco that it had “agreed to suspend, on a provisional basis, the withdrawal by European teams from FIFA competitions in the coming season”. UEFA said it filed a request in the southern Florida district court for authorization of discovery "in a foreign proceeding" against FIFA, which has offices in Miami's Coral Gables neighborhood.
UEFA said the valuation significantly undervalued FIFA’s commercial rights and alleged it was not subjected to an open auction or tested by an independent valuer. UEFA said the organisations may possess documents and witnesses relevant to how the FFE transaction was conceived, structured, valued and approved.
What's confirmed
- In a court filing on Thursday, UEFA said it is preparing a criminal complaint in Swiss courts against Infantino over possible financial mismanagement related to his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private
- UEFA, which issued a blistering statement saying it had lost confidence in Infantino's leadership at FIFA, first threatened to take legal action on Aug.
- In an ex parte application filed on Thursday under US law, European football’s governing body said it is considering criminal proceedings against Infantino and potentially other FIFA officials and advisers over a now-ab
- A statement sent to the media by Uefa said: "Those present unanimously mandated the Uefa president and administration to pursue every available institutional, political and legal avenue necessary to secure fundamental re
- In the application for evidence, Uefa said: "In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from Fifa's most valuable assets to the detriment of Fifa,
- Uefa has led calls for Infantino to resign and declared that it had lost confidence in the Fifa president after he scrapped his World Cup sell-off plan.
What's still developing
- In the application for evidence, Uefa said: "In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from Fifa's most valuable assets to the detriment of…
- A statement sent to the media by Uefa said: "Those present unanimously mandated the Uefa president and administration to pursue every available institutional, political and legal avenue necessary to secure…
- In an ex parte application filed on Thursday under US law, European football’s governing body said it is considering criminal proceedings against Infantino and potentially other FIFA officials and advisers over a…
- UEFA said the organisations may possess documents and witnesses relevant to how the FFE transaction was conceived, structured, valued and approved.
- UEFA said FIFA statutes give the council sole authority to decide how FIFA’s commercial rights are promoted.
- UEFA said investors would have paid $4.2bn for a stake in FIFA Forward Enterprise, valuing the business at about $20bn.
- UEFA said the valuation significantly undervalued FIFA’s commercial rights and alleged it was not subjected to an open auction or tested by an independent valuer.
- UEFA said after a meeting of Europe’s member associations in Monaco that it had “agreed to suspend, on a provisional basis, the withdrawal by European teams from FIFA competitions in the coming season”.