Football Leaks whistleblower Rui Pinto loses protected witness status
The whistleblower whose leaks led to Manchester City's guilty verdict has lost his state protection. Portuguese authorities have confirmed that Rui Pinto, 37, will no longer be treated as a protected witness. The Guardian
Pinto set up the Football Leaks website more than a decade ago. His crusade began after the FIFA corruption scandal of 2015. The private documents he published prompted UEFA to investigate City's finances. The Premier League then opened its own case.
That Premier League case leaned heavily on Football Leaks material. It included an internal memo from City chief executive Ferran Soriano which read: "We will need to fight this and do it in a way that is not visible, or we will be pointed out as the global enemies of football." An independent commission, a panel appointed to decide the case away from the league, has since returned a guilty verdict. City continue to protest their innocence, with Soriano saying the club will appeal because the verdict "contains clear, material errors of law, principle and fact and that it is unsafe".
City had questioned whether hacked documents could be used as evidence. Premier League rules state an investigation "shall not be bound by judicial rules governing the admissibility of evidence. Instead, facts relating to a breach of these rules may be established by any reliable means." Pinto himself said in 2019 it was "nonsense" to dismiss the files because of how they were obtained. "The documents are authentic," he said.
Pinto has held protected status since 2020. That followed an agreement to give Portuguese authorities access to millions of files gathered before his arrest in Budapest. Since then he has lived in a safe house. He has not disclosed his location and has received no visitors.
Talks had started about helping him return to social and professional life. Portuguese officials say that process will now stop. Pinto has been advised not to go home, not to contact family members, and to avoid crowded places for work or socialising.
Security around him has long been tight. At his first trial in 2020 he wore a bulletproof vest and entered court through a separate entrance guarded by special forces. Attendees were searched three times and banned from bringing phones or computers, with snipers posted on nearby buildings.
In Portugal, Pinto divides opinion. Some see him as a whistleblower acting in the public interest. Others see him as a hacker who broke the law. He has been compared to Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.
What makes this stand out for football fans is simple. One man with a laptop helped trigger the financial case that has hung over the English game for years. Now that the verdict is in, he faces an uncertain future without the shield that kept him safe.
