Big news for the Man City whistleblower just days after a ‘life-threatening’ decision
Rui Pinto, a Portuguese hacker who revealed documents that led to the Premier League’s probe into Manchester City, has some important news after learning he was going to leave Portugal’s witness protection program today (October 10).
Pinto, 37, started Football Leaks in 2018 and shared secret documents from big football clubs with the German magazine Der Spiegel. After being extradited from Hungary in 2019, he joined Portugal’s witness protection program in 2020 and agreed to help the authorities by giving info he found through hacking.
He faced 147 charges including computer fraud, attempted extortion, and invading privacy. Pinto received a four-year suspended sentence and was cleared of 241 counts of illegally accessing sports clubs’ email accounts during a trial earlier in 2026.
Right after the Premier League’s independent commission found Manchester City guilty of breaking financial rules between 2009 and 2018, Pinto went public, saying he planned to leave Portugal because he was told his time in the witness protection program was ending. He shared that he had received “multiple death threats” and faced a “serious risk of assassination.”
On X, he wrote: “I have no alternative but to relocate, within the next few days, to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period of time.” Pinto also started a GoFundMe page to help cover his living expenses while in hiding.
The Guardian reported on October 3 that Pinto offered to work with UK authorities in return for protection from threats. But Portugal’s Ministry of Justice later confirmed that it had reversed the decision to remove him from witness protection on October 9.
A statement from the Ministry explained that the program stays in place until a new decision is made by the Special Security Programs Commission. They also said Pinto wasn’t properly told why the program was ending or given a chance to respond, which is required by law. So, the earlier decision was canceled, and the protection will continue until a new decision is made after Pinto has a chance to share his thoughts.
Pinto will now have a new risk assessment to figure out how serious the threats to his safety are.