Man City whistleblower receives major update days after ‘life-threatening’ decision

Rui Pinto, a Portuguese hacker who released documents that prompted the Premier League’s investigation into Manchester City, has received a major update after being informed he would leave Portugal’s witness protection programme today (October 10).

Pinto, 37, founded Football Leaks in 2018 and showed confidential documents from major football clubs to German magazine Der Spiegel.

After being extradited from Hungary in 2019, he was introduced to Portugal’s witness protection programme in 2020 and agreed to co-operate with authorities by providing information he had come across through computer hacking.

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Who is Rui Pinto?

The 37-year-old faced 147 charges, including computer fraud, attempted extortion and violating the privacy of correspondence. Pinto was given a four-year suspended sentence. The computer hacker was also acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing sports clubs’ and bodies’ email accounts in a trial earlier in 2026.

Just days after the Premier League released the independent commission’s verdict finding City guilty of breaching financial rules between 2009 and 2018, Pinto went public, explaining that he was planning to leave Portugal after being told his participation in the country’s witness protection programme had been terminated, despite having received “multiple death threats” and faced “the serious risk of an assassination attempt” against him.

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 set up a GoFundMe page to cover his living costs while in hiding.

The Guardian reported on October 3 that Pinto had made himself available to co-operate with UK authorities in exchange for protection from threats.

Portuguese authorities issue major update on Rui Pinto

But Portugal’s Ministry of Justice has confirmed that it reversed the decision to remove Pinto from witness protection on October 9.

A statement from the Ministry read: “The protection program remains in effect until a new decision is adopted by the Special Security Programs Commission.

“The Minister of Justice met yesterday, October 8th, with the Special Security Programs Commission (CPES), within the scope of monitoring the situation regarding the special security program of Rui Pedro Gonçalves Pinto.

“The CPES verified that the beneficiary was not duly notified of the grounds for the decision to close the program, nor was he assured of the information and the possibility of exercising the right to a hearing, as provided for in the Witness Protection Law (Law No. 93/99, of July 14).

“For this reason, the Commission declared the decision of September 22, 2026, null and void, as well as the subsequent procedure and the notification made on September 30, 2026.

“Consequently, the special security program remains in effect until a new decision is made by the Special Security Programs Commission.

“The Commission also decided to proceed with a new notification to the beneficiary, providing them with the risk reassessment report and the relevant elements of the minutes of its meetings, granting them a period of ten working days to comment on the meaning and grounds of the projected decision.

“Only after this procedure has been completed and the beneficiary's statement, if submitted, has been assessed will the CPES make a new decision on maintaining or terminating the special security program.”

Pinto will undergo a risk assessment to determine the level of threat to his safety.

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