The Portuguese whistleblower who exposed Manchester City’s alleged financial irregularities will stay in the country’s witness‑protection scheme, after authorities reversed a decision to terminate the programme. Rui Pinto, 37, had been scheduled to exit the protection system on Saturday, a move he said would place him in a “life‑threatening situation.” The change comes after the special security programmes commission failed to properly notify him of the grounds for removal or give him a chance to contest the decision.
Pinto first came to public attention in 2018 when he supplied a trove of confidential documents to German magazine Der Spiegel. The files, which included emails and financial records, were used to launch a Premier League investigation into Manchester City’s finances and alleged breaches of the league’s financial fair play rules. In 2022, City were found guilty of all charges relating to violations of Premier League regulations covering the 2009‑10 to 2017‑18 seasons, a verdict the club has appealed.
After agreeing to cooperate with Portuguese authorities, Pinto entered the country’s witness‑protection programme in 2020. He has since provided information gathered through the Football Leaks operation, a website that publishes leaked sports documents. In 2024, the Ministry of Justice announced that the decision to remove him from protection had been reversed because the commission had not adequately explained the reasons for termination or allowed him to challenge the ruling. Pinto was given ten days to review a risk assessment that concluded his safety threat was low.
Pinto has used social media to thank Minister of Justice Rita Alarcão Judice for the reversal, accusing the commission’s initial decision of “manifest abuse of power.” He has described himself as a whistleblower, but his legal record is mixed. In 2020 he was convicted of illegal data access and attempted extortion, receiving a four‑year suspended sentence. He was also acquitted earlier this year of 241 counts of unlawfully accessing email accounts belonging to several Portuguese sports bodies, including Benfica. During his first trial, he wore a bulletproof vest and was subject to heightened security measures.
The decision to keep Pinto in the protection programme means he will remain under state supervision for the foreseeable future. The special security programmes commission will continue to monitor his situation, and Pinto can now reassess the risk assessment that determined his threat level to be low. The outcome of Manchester City’s appeal and the broader implications for football governance remain to be seen, but the Portuguese government’s move underscores the delicate balance between safeguarding whistleblowers and ensuring national security.