Elon Musk's lawyer stands by Kushner in FIFA's controversial World Cup rights scheme

US venture capitalist Joshua Kushner is entering a legal battle over FIFA's controversial World Cup rights sale plan. He has hired Alex Spyro, a lawyer for one of the world's richest people, Elon Musk, to fight the case on his behalf.

The plan, proposed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, involved selling a portion of the broadcast and commercial rights of major tournaments to private investors. Kushner's company Thrive Capital led the group interested in investing in the plan.

Joshua Kushner, a member of the influential US Kushner family, is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Infantino ultimately scrapped the plan in the face of controversy. Kushner later admitted that he regretted getting involved in it.

British media outlet The Times reported that New York-based lawyer Alex Spyro will fight the legal battle for Kushner. Spyro is associated with the law firm Quinn Emmanuel, which has represented FIFA since the 2015 corruption scandal broke.

European football's governing body has asked Kushner for communications and information about Infantino's plans, which are facing legal challenges from UEFA. UEFA is also preparing a possible criminal case against Infantino in Switzerland.

Kushner claimed that his organization would never have been involved if it had known in advance that the plan would create such a huge controversy.

In a statement, he said, "We still support the FFE's core purpose. However, we failed to understand the political complexity within world football. If we had known in advance that this would turn out to be the case, we would never have been involved."

Meanwhile, documents submitted by UEFA lawyers to the court described the offer to sell 20 percent of FIFA's various tournament rights for $4.2 billion as a gross underestimation. They claim that this price was not determined through an open and competitive auction and that no independent valuation was carried out.

The legal documents also state that UEFA and its lawyers are considering criminal charges against Infantino and possible FIFA officials for financial mismanagement under Swiss law.

The appointment of Alex Spyro as Kushner's lawyer is no less controversial. Spyro defended Elon Musk in a defamation case against him after controversial comments about a member of a teenage soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018. Musk won that case in 2019. Spyro also played a legal role in the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin. He also worked as a lawyer for rapper Jay-Z.

It remains to be seen how important Spyro's role will be for Kushner in the complex legal battle surrounding FIFA's World Cup rights plan. The football world will also be watching to see how this dispute between UEFA and FIFA ultimately affects Infantino's leadership and the commercial rights system for the World Cup.