NYC attorney Alex Spiro repping Josh Kushners Thrive in legal fight over $20B FIFA deal
Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital has hired legal heavyweight Alex Spiro to represent him in the ongoing legal dustup over FIFA’s doomed $20 billion plan to sell off a stake in the World Cup.Spiro, a partner at New York law firm Quinn Emanuel whose high-profile clients have included Elon Musk, Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin and Eric Adams, disclosed in a Monday court filing that he’d be representing Kushner and Thrive.A representative for Spiro declined further comment.UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, asked a Manhattan federal judge last week for permission to subpoena Thrive about its dealings with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino.Neither Thrive or Kushner are accused of any wrongdoing.UEFA is preparing a lawsuit against Infantino over a now-dead deal called for the FIFA Forward Enterprise, which aimed to raise $4.2 billion from Thrive and other investors.
The investors would have taken a stake in a new for-profit entity that would have controlled FIFA’s money-making assets, including TV rights, sponsor deals, licensing, and ticketing.Details of the proposal triggered a major backlash, with UEFA members voting to boycott upcoming international soccer events in protest and pushing to oust Infantino from his role as FIFA’s top boss.“For UEFA, they want to keep this professional and this isn’t really about Kushner it’s about the football and Infantino – the latter has no place in it,” a source close to the situation told The Post.Kushner’s camp has acted “professionally” in its dealings so far with UEFA and has spoken directly to UEFA President Aleksander Cerefin, the source added.In court filings last week detailing the subpoena request, a UEFA lawyer said neither Kushner nor Thrive is expected to be named as defendants in the case.Nonetheless, UEFA is attempting to force Thrive to turn over documents and to have Kushner sit for depositions as part of a potential criminal case against Infantino in Switzerland, where UEFA and FIFA are headquartered.UEFA...