The whistleblower who triggered an investigation into Manchester City Football Club, which was found guilty of all but one of ۱۱۵ charges in breach of Premier League financial misconduct rules this week, will no longer be granted witness protection, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Rui Pinto, ۳۷, founder of the website Football Leaks, obtained private documents that showed City broke league rules from ۲۰۰۹ to ۲۰۱۸. The league said this included using “sham” commercial contracts “to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than ۹۰۰ million pounds ($۱.۲bn)” with secret funding from its Abu Dhabi-based owners.
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The league also said the investigation found City used schemes that enabled it to appear to be complying with financial rules. City, which could face sanctions ranging from a fine to expulsion from the league, denies wrongdoing and is expected to appeal by Friday.
Pinto has been a protected witness since ۲۰۲۰. So who is he and what happens to him now?
Who is Rui Pinto?
Pinto is a Portuguese computer hacker and activist whose work as a public interest whistleblower has exposed corruption that served as grounds for criminal investigations in several countries.
He was born and raised in Vila Nova de Gaia, near Porto. His early work focused on Portuguese football clubs Benfica and FC Porto.
Pinto was mostly self-taught in computing, having never received advanced education in the field. His school geography teacher, however, recalled him being “very good in computers” and was surprised when he was named as the founder of Football Leaks in ۲۰۱۹.
Pinto founded the website in ۲۰۱۵ under the pseudonym “John” to reveal “the principal protagonists in the dishonest football industry”. He was unmasked in January ۲۰۱۹ when he was arrested in Budapest on a European court order for alleged attempted extortion and cybercrimes.
Following his arrest, he was extradited to Portugal in March ۲۰۱۹ and remained in pre-trial detention until April ۲۰۲۰. He was given a four-year suspended sentence in September ۲۰۲۳ for illegally obtaining documents, committing other cybercrimes and attempted extortion. He was later acquitted on ۲۴۱ separate counts in a second trial in April ۲۰۲۶ after the court ruled the charges were “invalid”.
The leaks revealed the salaries of Lionel Messi and Neymar. They also brought global attention to a rape allegation lawsuit involving Cristiano Ronaldo, which was later dismissed by a United States judge.
A French trial in ۲۰۲۳ resulted in a six-month suspended sentence for hacking emails of Paris Saint-Germain executives.
What are his links to Manchester City?
From ۲۰۱۶ to ۲۰۱۸, Pinto leaked more than ۷۰ million confidential documents to a number of newspapers belonging to the European Investigative Collaborations consortium.
They included confidential documents related to some of the biggest clubs, players and organisations in the world. Those leaks ultimately became the basis of the Premier League’s charges against City, while Europe’s football governing body, UEFA, also launched a separate investigation.
Why was Pinto in witness protection, and why has it been revoked?
Pinto has been a protected witness since August ۲۰۲۰ after agreeing to grant Portuguese authorities access to millions of files gathered before his arrest. His first trial in Portugal began a month later.
After his extradition to Portugal, he “has at various points been in solitary confinement, under house arrest and in witness protection”, according to a report by the BBC.
The UK’s Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that Pinto would no longer be a protected witness by Portuguese authorities as police deemed his safety to be a low risk, despite him being assaulted in April. Pinto has, however, been advised to “exercise caution with family contacts” and to avoid social media.
What has Pinto said since the City verdict?
Pinto has been vociferous about Manchester City on social media since the club’s financial misconduct scandal came to light last week, calling the conviction a “historic decision for English football”.
“From the very beginning, they have demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the rules, for the bodies responsible for overseeing and regulating the game, for the integrity of the competition, for the other clubs and, above all, for the fans,” he wrote on X following the verdict on Friday.
“Years and years of cheating, lying and manipulation will finally have consequences.”
Just hours before his witness protection was revoked on Wednesday, Pinto said FIFA President Gianni Infantino had become “a cancer on football and should have no place in the future of the game”.
