Man City Whistleblower Rui Pinto to Remain in Witness Protection
Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto will remain in witness protection after Portuguese authorities suspended a ruling to terminate the safety programme, avoiding what he previously described as a life-threatening situation
, bbc.co.uk reported. The 37-year-old computer hacker disclosed millions of confidential documents, emails, and financial records that triggered the Premier League’s investigation into Manchester City.
Suspension of Protection and Legal Procedural Flaws
Pinto had been scheduled to leave the police protection programme on a Saturday, but the Ministry of Justice intervened on Friday. According to bbc.co.uk, the special security programmes commission failed to adequately notify Pinto of the grounds for terminating his protection or give him an opportunity to challenge the decision. Uk.sports.yahoo.com noted that Portuguese authorities nullified the previous resolution because Pinto had not been duly informed of the reasons for the measure, especially following an assault in Lisbon the previous April. Pinto stated that he had to move to a secret location due to multiple death threats. Under the revised timeline, Pinto has 10 days to assess a risk assessment conducted by the commission that indicates a low threat to his safety.
Following the intervention, Pinto posted on X to thank Portugal’s Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcao Judice, stating that the commission’s initial decision clearly violated the law and amounted to a manifest abuse of power
(sports.yahoo.com). Pinto has been a protected witness since 2020 after agreeing to cooperate with authorities and provide encrypted data gathered before his arrest in Hungary in January 2019. Uk.sports.yahoo.com reported that Pinto spent more than a year in pre-trial detention before being extradited to his home country and granting access to millions of files.
Manchester City Breaches Premier League Financial Regulations
The documents leaked by Pinto in 2018 were shared with the German magazine Der Spiegel, which used them to investigate Manchester City’s finances and alleged breaches of financial fair play rules. Manchester City were recently found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, though the club has appealed against the decision (sports.yahoo.com).
Pinto describes himself as a whistleblower, but his legal history in Portugal involves multiple proceedings. A Portuguese court handed him a suspended four-year sentence in September 2023 after finding him guilty of offences including illegal access to data, attempted extortion, and breach of correspondence (Yahoo Sports). During his first trial in 2020, which involved heightened security measures, Pinto wore a bulletproof vest. Earlier this year, he was acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to several sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica (sports.yahoo.com).
