Rui Pinto, the Portuguese computer hacker and Football Leaks founder whose documents helped trigger the Premier League investigation into Manchester City, is set to lose his witness protection despite fearing he could be assassinated.
Pinto posted on X on Friday that his participation in Portugal’s witness protection programme will be terminated on 10 October. He said the decision had put him in a “life-threatening situation” and left him no alternative but to relocate to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period, citing “multiple death threats” and “the serious risk of an assassination attempt”. BBC Sport has approached the Commission for the Protection of Victims of Crimes in Portugal for comment.
He entered the programme in 2020 after agreeing to cooperate with authorities and provide files obtained through the Football Leaks operation. In 2018, he shared documents with German magazine Der Spiegel, which used them for investigations into City’s finances and alleged breaches of financial fair play rules. Last week, City were found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, a verdict they have appealed.
Pinto has described himself as a whistleblower, but his record includes convictions in Portugal. He was convicted of offences including illegal access to data and attempted extortion and given a four-year suspended sentence. He wore a bulletproof vest during his first trial in 2020, which was also subject to heightened security measures. Earlier this year, he was acquitted in a second trial of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to a number of sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica.
On Wednesday, Pinto turned his attention to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, saying he had “become a cancer on football” and should “have no place in the future of the game”. Pinto repeated allegations from 2018 that Infantino intervened to help City and Paris St-Germain avoid financial fair play sanctions from Uefa. Infantino’s position has recently come under increased pressure following controversial plans to sell stakes in the governing body’s competitions, such as the World Cup, to private investors.
A statement from Pinto’s lawyers released on Friday said the decision to end his participation in the witness protection programme left him at heightened risk, noting that legal proceedings stemming from the leaks remained ongoing, including the case against Manchester City. Pinto has set up a fundraising page to help him “survive this serious situation”, which he claims was “created by the Portuguese State”.