Rui Pinto is ‘in talks’ with UK authorities to help uncover more crime in exchange for police protection, reports say.
Football whistleblower Rui Pinto, whose leaks triggered an investigation into Manchester City’s financial misconduct, has held discussions with authorities in the United Kingdom over a new role in helping uncover financial and sporting crime in the country, reports in British media say.
Pinto’s lawyers have been contacted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after he stated he would be willing to assist UK authorities with investigations in exchange for police protection, British newspaper The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Recommended Stories
list of ۴ itemsend of list
Al Jazeera sought confirmation of Pinto’s reported contact with the authorities, but the SFO did not confirm whether the whistleblower was in talks.
“In line with long-established practice to avoid prejudice to law enforcement activity, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation into this matter,” the SFO said in an emailed statement to Al Jazeera.
Pinto appeared to confirm the reports of his discussions with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) by reposting an article on his social media account.
The ۳۸-year-old is the founder of the website Football Leaks, which obtained private documents that showed City broke league rules from ۲۰۰۹ to ۲۰۱۸, leading to a probe by the Premier League’s independent commission.
City were found guilty of all but one of ۱۱۵ charges brought against them over breaches of Premier League financial rules.
Pinto’s lawyer, William Bourdon, who has represented other high-profile whistleblowers including Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “I can confirm that the process is under way.”
Pinto said last month that he feared for his life after being told his witness protection programme would end on October ۱۰ and launched a crowdfunding initiative to help him establish an anonymous new life.
“The Commission responsible for Portugal’s witness protection programme informed me of its decision to terminate my participation in the programme and withdraw my police protection, thereby knowingly placing me in a life-threatening situation,” he wrote in a social media post.
“Given these circumstances, I have no alternative but to relocate, within the next few days, to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period of time, due to the multiple death threats I have received and the serious risk of an assassination attempt against me.
“For this reason, I have just set up a GoFundMe campaign and I am asking for everyone’s support to help me survive this serious situation created by the Portuguese State, which, as I have already stated, has knowingly decided to place my life at risk.”
However, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice said it would extend his protection pending a new hearing, after Pinto’s lawyers challenged the decision.
Reports last month said Pinto had reached out to UK authorities to offer cooperation in ongoing investigations in exchange for security measures being placed around him.
Pinto said at the start of his trial in April ۲۰۲۰ that he was “proud” to be a whistleblower on European football clubs’ big-money dealings.
The former history student and self-taught computer expert faced ۹۰ charges – from unauthorised access to data and violation of correspondence to attempted extortion – in the case heard at Lisbon’s Central Criminal Court.
“I don’t consider myself a hacker. I am a whistleblower,” he said at the time. “The revelations are serious and I’m proud; there’s no shame. I haven’t done anything for money,” added Pinto, who acknowledges releasing ۷۰ million documents on football’s backroom workings.
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”.
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.
