Manchester City whistleblower Rui Pinto stripped of protected-witness status in Portugal
Rui Pinto, the whistleblower whose document leaks helped trigger the Premier League’s probe into Manchester City’s finances, was removed from Portugal’s protected-witness program on Wednesday, documents seen by the Guardian show. Portuguese authorities decided to end his protection while advising him to “exercise caution with family contacts” and to avoid social media.
Pinto, 37, has operated the Football Leaks website and had been a protected witness since 2020 after agreeing to give Portuguese investigators access to millions of files collected before his arrest. Portuguese police assessed the risk to Pinto as low despite an assault in Lisbon in April that left him with a bruised eyebrow; the police were informed but no formal complaint was filed. In September 2023 he received a suspended four-year sentence after being found guilty on counts of attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence.
Pinto supplied material that included information concerning Manchester City’s finances; portions of those files were passed to the German publication Der Spiegel and its partners in the European Investigative Collaborations network. That dissemination led both Uefa and the Premier League to open separate investigations into the club’s conduct.
Manchester City successfully overturned a UEFA-imposed Champions League ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the Premier League on Tuesday found the club guilty of 114 charges covering nine seasons. The Premier League ruling accused City of disguising over £900m in funding through sham commercial contracts and false accounting.
The club has until Friday to lodge an appeal against the Premier League’s decision. Pinto was active on social media after reports of the Premier League verdict emerged, describing the outcome as a “historic decision for English football.”
In a separate post aimed at City’s hierarchy, Pinto wrote: “From the very beginning, they have demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the rules, for the bodies responsible for overseeing and regulating the game, for the integrity of the competition, for the other clubs and, above all, for the fans. Years and years of cheating, lying and manipulation will finally have consequences.”
Hours before confirmation that his protected status had been removed, Pinto accused Fifa president Gianni Infantino of having done “everything in his power” to ensure that City and Paris Saint-Germain would only be fined for contravening Uefa’s FFP rules when he was general secretary at European football’s governing body.
