Players On the Move

Embattled social media platform TikTok said that General Counsel Erich Andersen had stepped down to focus on the company's fight against the new federal law that will ban TikTok's app in the United States if its Chinese owner doesn't sell its stake within a year. Andersen, who is based in the United States and is a former deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said in a statement that it was a "difficult decision" to step down from a role he's held for four years, citing a litany of "successes" in "data privacy, youth mental health and safety, and e-commerce transactions." Andersen had served as general counsel of both TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance. Within hours of President Joe Biden signing the TikTok-aimed legislation into law, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew vowed to challenge it in court. Lawmakers and the Biden administration said the TikTok ban was justified because of the risks of having Chinese ownership of an app used by 170 million Americans. They feared Chinese authorities would force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or exert influence by suppressing or promoting certain content. … U.S. Soccer tapped Carlos Kuri, who was most recently chief strategy officer and general counsel of the giant media festival SXSW, as its next top lawyer. The move comes as the governing body for soccer in the United States gears up for the Men's World Cup in 2026 and ratchets up plans to accelerate the growth of the sport nationally. U.S. Soccer is in the process of relocating its headquarters from Chicago, its home for more than two decades, to Atlanta, where it has received a deluge of support from hometown giant Coca-Cola and longtime resident Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. Kuri has 16 years of in-house experience in the live events, professional sports and beverage industries, having previously served as chief legal officer for Heineken USA and general counsel for energy drink company Red Bull. He was also director of legal affairs for Red Bull and the first general counsel of the New York Red Bull Major League Soccer franchise. As head of legal and corporate strategy and legal for SXSW, Kuri developed and managed the festival's strategic partnerships, oversaw its expansion into new global markets, helped form its first venture capital fund and created the company's "first ever 3-year strategic plan, including setting annual targets and success metrics," according to his LinkedIn profile. He takes the legal reins at U.S. Soccer after a tumultuous period where the organization was embroiled in scandal and legal fights over the treatment of female players. Amid a legal fight with players on the U.S. Women's Soccer Team over pay disparities, U.S. Soccer in April 2020 suspended legal and compliance chief Lydia Wahlke, who later resigned. A class action lawsuit that settled for $24 million in 2022 claimed players were paid less than those on the men's team even though the team played 19 more games between 2015 and 2018. The same month U.S. Soccer suspended Wahlke, it ceased working with outside law firm Seyfarth Shaw, which had sparked outrage arguing in a court filing that female players lack the physical attributes and skill of their male counterparts, and weren't entitled to equal pay because they do not perform equal work. After Wahlke left, NASCAR's Karen Leetzow took over as U.S. Soccer legal chief, but she departed in November to become president of the Chicago Red Stars women's soccer team.