Man City whistleblower to remain in witness protection
The computer hacker who released documents which helped trigger the Premier League investigation into Manchester City will remain under witness protection after authorities in Portugal suspend the decision to end it.
The whistleblower who exposed documents that led to Manchester City's investigation into financial misconduct will continue to reside in Portugal's witness protection program, authorities announced on Friday. Rui Pinto, the Portuguese computer hacker behind the revelations, had previously been scheduled to exit the safeguarding system on Saturday. City's allegations of violating financial fair play regulations from 2009-10 to 2017-18 were dismissed earlier this year, but the club remains appealing the verdict.
Pinto, 37, disclosed confidential football documents, including emails and financial records, to German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018. He was granted protection by Portugal's special security programmes commission in 2020 after agreeing to aid authorities. However, the Ministry of Justice suspended Pinto's protection for undisclosed reasons, citing insufficient notification and opportunity to contest the decision.
Pinto expressed gratitude to Minister of Justice Rita Alarcao Judice and denounced the commission's move as a "manifest abuse of power" via X. He had previously been convicted in Portugal for data theft and attempted extortion, receiving a four-year suspended sentence. The hacker donned a bulletproof vest during his trial, which also involved heightened security measures.
A year ago, Pinto was acquitted of 241 counts of unlawfully accessing email accounts belonging to sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
