More than a decade after Rui Pinto set up the Football Leaks website in a crusade triggered by the Fifa scandal in 2015, he finds himself in the middle of a growing storm. The former history student with trademark spiky hair who used to make extra cash selling books about the second world war has not held back with his statements on social media since Manchester City’s guilty verdict from an independent Premier League commission. The first targets for Pinto, whose leaks of private documents prompted first Uefa then the Premier League to investigate City’s financial affairs, were what he alleged were the club’s “cheating” executives for demonstrating “a complete lack of respect for the rules”.
On Wednesday he turned his attention to the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. Less than two hours later, Portuguese authorities confirmed Pinto would no longer be protected as a witness. That is understood to have come as a surprise to the 37-year-old, who finds himself without a job, a home or an income.
He has been living in a safe house under protection and has never disclosed his location, and it is understood he has received no visitors. The Guardian understands talks had been initiated to begin the process of reintegrating Pinto back into social and professional life. That initiative will be halted, leaving Pinto to fend for himself.
He has been advised not to return home, contact family members or visit crowded places socially or for work. Pinto has been a protected witness since 2020 after he agreed to grant Portuguese authorities access to millions of files acquired before his arrest in Budapest, where he moved after a year in the Hungarian capital as an Erasmus student. He has since become a cause célèbre who divides opinion in his homeland and been compared to Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.
The Premier League’s case against City drew heavily on evidence provided by Football Leaks, including the chief executive, Ferran Soriano, writing in an internal memo: “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.” City continue to protest their innocence and Soriano said this week the club would appeal on the basis that the commission’s verdict “contains clear, material errors of law, principle and fact and that it is unsafe”. The question of whether the evidence should be used provoked huge public debate in Portugal, but the Premier League’s regulations stipulate that any 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.” That tallies with Pinto’s assertion in 2019 that it is “nonsense” to claim the data he provided is tainted because it was obtained illegally.
I don’t consider myself as a hacker, but as a citizen who acted in the public interest. My sole intention was to reveal illicit practices that affect the world of football.” Pinto wore a bulletproof vest during his first trial in 2020 and came in through a dedicated entrance guarded by special forces. People attending the proceedings were searched three times and not allowed to bring mobile phones or computers into the courtroom.
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