LONDON: Rui Pinto says the Manchester City ruling over Premier League financial rules vindicates documents he leaked through Football Leaks that helped trigger investigations into the club.
The material provided says Manchester City were guilty of most of the 115 charges over alleged breaches of financial rules. Pinto called the ruling a “historic decision for English football”.
The Portuguese hacker supplied confidential emails and financial records that later reached German magazine Der Spiegel and journalists in the European Investigative Collaborations network.
His archive included material concerning Manchester City’s sponsorship arrangements and payments. Pinto argued that the findings validated the information he released.
He accused City of systematically undermining financial regulations through what he described as financial manipulation. Manchester City maintain their innocence and plan to appeal. Pinto launched Football Leaks in 2015.
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He later provided journalists with tens of millions of documents covering clubs, players and football organisations across Europe.
Portuguese authorities arrested him in Hungary in 2019 before his extradition to Portugal. In 2023, a Portuguese court gave him a four-year suspended sentence after finding him guilty of attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence.
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He became a protected witness in Portugal in 2020 after agreeing to give investigators access to encrypted hard drives and assist with investigations.
Pinto has remained under police protection while facing separate legal proceedings. Meanwhile, his disclosures have fed investigations extending well beyond Manchester City.
Rui Pinto says Manchester City’s financial-rule ruling vindicates documents leaked through Football Leaks that helped trigger investigations into the club.
