Josh Kushner, founder of venture firm Thrive Capital, has publicly defended his firm's role in a collapsed FIFA revenue-sharing scheme that has plunged football's governing body into scandal and could see president Gianni Infantino face criminal charges. Thrive had agreed to lead a $4.2 billion investment into FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a proposed entity that would have held commercial rights to competitions like the World Cup, but the plan was scrapped after European and North American football associations objected to outside private investors gaining influence.

Under the FFE proposal, FIFA's 211 member associations would have jointly owned the new entity and could have sold some shares to investors such as Thrive, which was set to acquire a 20% stake at a $20 billion valuation via JPMorgan-brokered deals. UEFA is now pursuing legal action against Infantino, alleging the company was undervalued, and has asked a US federal court to compel Thrive to disclose valuation documents, deal communications and the identities of other prospective investors; Kushner says that while he still believes the plan's goal of redistributing football revenue more evenly was sound, he would not have got involved had he foreseen the fallout, and he has hired a prominent lawyer known for representing Elon Musk.