Portugal Ends Rui Pinto’s Witness Protection Despite Lisbon Assault
Portuguese authorities have withdrawn Rui Pinto’s protected-witness status, ending the state security measures granted to the Football Leaks founder in 2020 after he handed investigators access to millions of confidential documents.
The decision comes despite an assault in Lisbon last April, when Pinto suffered a bruised eyebrow. Police have assessed the present danger to the 37-year-old as low, while advising him to curb his social-media activity and take extra care around family contacts.
Pinto’s protection has been removed days after the Premier League found Manchester City guilty on 114 financial charges. Files first released by Pinto and shared with Der Spiegel in 2018 helped trigger the long-running investigation into the club’s financial affairs.
City were found to have concealed more than £900 million in funding through what were judged to be sham sponsorship arrangements and inaccurate accounting. The club have until Friday, October 2, to submit an appeal against the verdicts, with the scale of any eventual sanctions still to be decided.
Pinto responded online by calling the ruling a landmark moment for English football. He said City’s leadership had shown contempt for regulations, football’s governing bodies, rival clubs and supporters, and argued that years of alleged dishonesty and manipulation would now bring consequences.
He also targeted FIFA president Gianni Infantino, referring to Infantino’s previous role as UEFA general secretary. Pinto alleged that Infantino had worked around UEFA procedures to protect Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain from major European penalties in 2014. He said, in his personal view, Infantino should not have a future role in football.
Pinto remains a divisive figure. Transparency campaigners have praised the disclosures that exposed financial practices across the game, but he was given a suspended four-year prison sentence in Portugal in September 2023 for attempted extortion, unlawful access to data and breach of correspondence.
Manchester City previously succeeded in overturning a UEFA Champions League ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020. The Premier League case, however, has now produced a domestic guilty verdict, while Pinto faces life outside the witness-protection programme as City prepare their next legal move.
