Portuguese authorities have confirmed that Rui Pinto, the hacker behind the Football Leaks website, will stay under state protection. A statement from the Ministry of Justice said his witness safeguards, which were due to lapse on Saturday, October 10, will remain in place until a new decision is made.
Pinto’s material helped prompt the Premier League investigation into Manchester City. He obtained private files showing the club breached league rules between 2009 and 2018. An independent commission later found City guilty on all but one of 115 charges relating to financial regulations.
Why the earlier protection decision was overturned
The ministry said an earlier resolution had been annulled because Pinto was not properly told the reasons behind it and had no chance to contest it, according to a statement issued on Friday. His lawyers had the previous week criticised procedural irregularities and warned of genuine dangers to their client, who was attacked in Lisbon last April.
Pinto, 37, said he had been forced to relocate to a secret location because of repeated death threats. He has been a protected witness since 2020, when he agreed to give Portuguese authorities access to a large trove of files compiled before his arrest.
From Hungary arrest to cooperation with investigators
Pinto was detained in Hungary, where he had been living in January 2019, and was sent back to Portugal. He spent more than a year in pre-trial custody before agreeing to cooperate by handing over encrypted information he held. He is both a defendant and a protected witness in Portugal, and he is also assisting investigators in other European countries.
At his first trial, the former history student and self-taught computer expert acknowledged gaining access to computers and collecting millions of documents. Starting in late 2015, he posted them on the internet. Shared with a group of European investigative media outlets, the material exposed dubious conduct tied to high-profile footballers, clubs and agents, triggering tax reviews and court inquiries across several nations.
In September 2023, Pinto received a four-year prison term, which was suspended, after being convicted of attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence.
