Portugal’s Ministry of Justice has reversed the removal of the Football Leaks founder from the programme, saying he was not properly told why it was being terminated or given a chance to challenge it.
Rui Pinto, the Portuguese hacker behind the Football Leaks disclosures that helped prompt the Premier League’s investigation into Manchester City, will remain in witness protection for now. He was due to leave the programme on Saturday. In a statement on Friday, Portugal’s Ministry of Justice said the decision to end his protection had been suspended. Pinto, 37, had earlier said the ruling put him in a “life-threatening situation”.
Why the decision was suspended
According to the Ministry of Justice, the special security programmes commission, which runs the scheme, had not adequately notified Pinto of the grounds for ending his protection. It also did not give him the opportunity to challenge the decision. The commission’s decision has been reversed for the time being on those procedural grounds.
Pinto will now have 10 days to consider a risk assessment carried out by the commission. It reportedly classifies the threat to his safety as low.
Pinto thanked Portugal’s Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcao Judice, in a post on X. He said the commission’s initial decision had clearly violated the law and amounted to a “manifest abuse of power”.
What the programme provides
Pinto joined Portugal’s witness protection programme in 2020 after agreeing to co-operate with authorities and provide information obtained through Football Leaks. The programme reportedly includes accommodation at a secret location, police protection, transport, subsistence support and identity documents. Ending it could therefore affect his housing and daily security as well as his personal protection.
Pinto has said he has received death threats and fears an assassination attempt. He has said he was preparing to move to an undisclosed location after learning his protection would end. His legal team has also referred to an assault in Lisbon earlier in 2026. These are claims made by Pinto and his lawyers, and the commission’s reported risk assessment reached a different conclusion.
He wore a bulletproof vest during his first trial in 2020, which was also held under heightened security.
Football Leaks and Manchester City
Pinto founded Football Leaks in 2015. Its disclosures included millions of documents about clubs, player contracts, transfer dealings and financial arrangements across Europe, which were shared with investigative journalists.
In 2018, he shared confidential documents, including emails and financial records relating to Manchester City, with the German magazine Der Spiegel. The magazine used them in investigations into the club’s finances and alleged breaches of financial fair play rules.
City were recently found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. An independent commission made the finding. The club has appealed and continues to deny wrongdoing. The appeal and any eventual sanctions are separate from the Portuguese authorities’ decision about Pinto’s safety.
Pinto’s convictions
Pinto describes himself as a whistleblower and has maintained that his disclosures exposed wrongdoing in football. He was convicted in Portugal in 2023 of offences including illegal access to data, aggravated breach of correspondence and attempted extortion, and received a four-year suspended sentence. Earlier this year, he was acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to a number of sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica.
