Football Leaks Whistleblower Rui Pinto in Talks with UK Authorities to Combat Sporting and Financial Crime

Rui Pinto, the whistleblower behind the Football Leaks website, has reportedly held discussions with United Kingdom authorities regarding a potential new role in uncovering financial and sporting crime within the country. According to reports in the British media, Pinto's legal representatives have been contacted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) following his expressed willingness to assist UK investigations in exchange for police protection. The Guardian newspaper first reported these developments.

Al Jazeera's attempts to confirm these discussions with the SFO were met with a standard response: "In line with long-established practice to avoid prejudice to law enforcement activity, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation into this matter," an emailed statement read. Pinto himself appeared to corroborate the reports by reposting an article related to his discussions with the SFO on his social media account.

The 38-year-old is known for founding Football Leaks, the platform that exposed private documents indicating Manchester City's breaches of league rules between 2009 and 2018. This led to a probe by the Premier League's independent commission, which ultimately found Manchester City guilty of all but one of the 115 charges related to financial rule violations.

William Bourdon, Pinto's lawyer, who has previously represented high-profile whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, confirmed to The Guardian that "the process is under way."

Pinto recently expressed fears for his life after being informed that his witness protection program was set to end on October 10. He subsequently launched a crowdfunding initiative to aid in establishing a new, anonymous life. He stated that the Commission responsible for Portugal's witness protection program had decided to terminate his participation and withdraw police protection, knowingly placing him in a life-threatening situation. He indicated the need to relocate to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period due to multiple death threats and the serious risk of assassination. He appealed for support through a GoFundMe campaign to help him survive the situation created by the Portuguese State, which he claims knowingly put his life at risk. However, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice later announced an extension of his protection pending a new hearing, following a challenge by Pinto's lawyers.

Reports from the previous month indicated that Pinto had already approached UK authorities, offering cooperation with ongoing investigations in return for security measures. During the commencement of his trial in April 2020, Pinto declared his pride in being a whistleblower concerning the significant financial dealings of European football clubs. Facing 90 charges in Lisbon's Central Criminal Court, including unauthorized data access, correspondence violation, and attempted extortion, Pinto maintained, "I don’t consider myself a hacker. I am a whistleblower." He added, "The revelations are serious and I’m proud; there’s no shame. I haven’t done anything for money," acknowledging the release of 70 million documents detailing the inner workings of football.

In September 2023, Pinto received a four-year suspended sentence for illegally obtaining documents, committing cybercrimes, and attempted extortion. He was later acquitted on 241 separate counts in a subsequent trial in April 2026, as the court deemed those charges invalid. Pinto has been a protected witness since August 2020, after agreeing to provide Portuguese authorities with access to millions of files gathered prior to his arrest. His initial trial in Portugal commenced a month later.