Portugal's Rui Pinto, the man behind the "Football Leaks" revelations that exposed financial irregularities attributed to Manchester City and threw European football into turmoil, says his life is now in danger. The warning follows a decision by the Portuguese authorities to drop him from the witness protection programme that had given him a secret residence and security.
Writing on his account on the "X" platform, Pinto said the committee running the witness protection programme had told him his participation had ended. He described the decision as leaving him in real danger, given the death threats he has received and his fear of an assassination attempt. Over the coming days, he added, he will be forced to move to an undisclosed location for an unspecified period.
Pinto's lawyers have objected to the withdrawal of protection. They have called on the Portuguese authorities to think again and warned of the security and legal fallout, particularly with a number of judicial proceedings linked to his revelations still ongoing.
The Manchester City case at the heart of the storm
Among the reasons for its objection, the defence team pointed to those continuing proceedings, including the Manchester City case. The club faces more than 100 alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations.
His lawyers argue that while these cases drag on, the authorities must weigh the risks to Pinto's safety before stripping him of protection.
The "Football Leaks" revelations began in 2015, after Pinto published confidential documents on player contracts, transfers and the financial dealings of clubs and agents. The leaks triggered investigations and judicial proceedings across several European countries, dragging financial files that caused huge controversy in football into the open.
These are not hypothetical threats, his lawyers insist. They point to an attack on him in Lisbon last April, and to the fact that influential, deep-pocketed figures were named in the files he exposed, with some of the resulting judicial proceedings still unresolved.
Acquittal in a new case after a previous conviction
Last April, Pinto, 37, was cleared of all charges against him in a second trial in Portugal. A court had previously convicted him in September 2023 of computer crimes and attempting to extort a sports investment fund, handing him a four-year suspended prison sentence.
The authorities arrested Pinto in Hungary in January 2019, where he was living, before handing him over to Portugal. He spent more than a year in pre-trial detention, then agreed to cooperate with the authorities on other investigations, giving them access to encrypted data in his possession.
Ending the protection has reignited his defence's fears over his safety. The fallout from the revelations tied to his name still runs through a number of judicial files, chief among them the Manchester City financial case.