Football Leaks hacker keeps witness protection status

Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto will stay in a witness protection programme after authorities put on hold a plan to remove him. Pinto, who started Football Leaks, had been due to leave the programme on Saturday and had warned that doing so could put his life at risk. Documents he leaked contributed to the Premier League's inquiry into Manchester City, which has been found to have broken financial rules and is appealing.

EXPANDED:

Rui Pinto, 37, founded Football Leaks and entered Portugal’s witness protection scheme in 2020 after cooperating with authorities. He had been told to exit the programme on Saturday, but the Ministry of Justice paused that move. The special security programmes commission had not properly informed him of its reasons or allowed him to contest the decision, officials said. He now has ten days to review a risk assessment that judged the threat to him low.

Pinto supplied confidential football records, including emails and financial data, to Der Spiegel in 2018. Those materials fed reporting on Manchester City’s finances and alleged financial fair play breaches. City were later found to have violated Premier League financial rules across 2009-10 to 2017-18 and are appealing. Pinto has been convicted in Portugal of illegal data access and attempted extortion, receiving a suspended four-year sentence, and was acquitted this year of 241 counts involving sports bodies’ email accounts.

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