Rui Pinto, the Portuguese hacker whose leaked documents helped spark the Premier League's financial investigation into Manchester City, will continue to be shielded under Portugal's witness protection programme after officials put a planned withdrawal on hold.
Pinto, 37, had been due to exit the protection scheme on Saturday, a prospect he said would place him in a "life-threatening situation." Portugal's Ministry of Justice announced on Friday that the special security programmes commission's decision to end his protection had been suspended, at least temporarily, after it emerged that Pinto had not been properly "notified" of the reasoning behind the move nor given a chance to contest it.
According to the ministry, Pinto will now have 10 days to review a risk assessment carried out by the commission, which reportedly concluded that he currently faces only a low threat to his safety. Responding to the development on social media platform X, Pinto thanked Portugal's Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcao Judice, and argued that the commission's original ruling had breached the law, calling it a "manifest abuse of power."
Pinto rose to international attention as the founder of Football Leaks, an operation that obtained and disseminated a large cache of confidential documents from within the football industry, including internal emails and financial records. In 2018, he passed a significant portion of this material to the German magazine Der Spiegel, which used it to investigate Manchester City's finances and examine potential violations of Financial Fair Play regulations.
That reporting fed directly into a broader Premier League inquiry, which concluded with City being found guilty on all counts related to breaches of the league's financial rules spanning the 2009-10 through 2017-18 seasons. The club has since lodged an appeal against that verdict.
Pinto entered Portugal's witness protection system in 2020 after reaching an agreement to assist authorities and share information gathered through his Football Leaks activities. His cooperation with investigators has been credited with exposing financial irregularities across multiple football institutions, though his methods have also led to legal consequences for him personally.
Despite describing himself as a whistleblower acting in the public interest, Pinto was convicted in Portugal on charges that included unauthorized access to data and attempted extortion. He received a four-year suspended prison sentence as a result. During his initial 2020 trial, Pinto appeared in court wearing a bulletproof vest, with the proceedings conducted under significantly heightened security due to concerns for his safety.
Earlier this year, Pinto secured a legal victory when he was cleared of 241 separate charges accusing him of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to various Portuguese sports organizations, among them football giant Benfica.
The decision to pause his removal from witness protection represents the latest twist in a long-running saga surrounding Pinto, whose disclosures have had far-reaching consequences for football governance and financial oversight across Europe. With Manchester City's appeal against the Premier League's findings still pending, the case continues to draw scrutiny, and Pinto's ongoing need for protection underscores the personal risks he says he has faced since becoming one of football's most consequential whistleblowers.
The 10-day review period will determine whether Pinto remains under state protection going forward, as authorities weigh the commission's safety assessment against his own concerns about the dangers he continues to face.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.