Football Leaks hacker in witness protection threatens to release Man City FFP breach proof

Portuguese whistleblower and Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto has threatened to explosively release details which he alleges is proof that Manchester City broke Premier League financial rules.

Pinto, who is currently in witness protection since 2020 after previously revealing insider information pertaining to football, has confirmed that he planning to release documents concerning City and their upcoming case with the English top flight.

City have denied all wrongdoing after 115 charges of alleged financial irregularities were made against them, with a hearing date reportedly set for Autumn of this year.

But before the two parties are set to begin, Pinto could release what he believes is damning evidence after gaining access to City’s emails in 2018. Speaking at the OffShore-Alert Marbella Conference via a video link from his safe house, he said: “The Man City releases showed amounts of money being paid into by the club that were not mentioned to the football authorities.

“These documents are from part of the Premier League investigation into City. I have now handed five hard drives to French and German authorities with millions of documents, including more on City and I have described what is on each. I am confident they will find criminal relevancy.”

A legal representative for Pinto added: “We have been approached by investigators to share information regarding Manchester City that has not been released before.

“We haven’t released the information yet but we have a massive file of Manchester City-related documents that has yet to be released. The files will be published at some point, we cannot say when but we will do it.”

Pinto previously leaked plans between clubs to attempt to form the European Super League, along with details of salaries of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The whistleblower’s actions led UEFA to ban City from European competitions for two years.

However, the club successfully overturned their suspension when the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that City were cleared of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions”.

UEFA issued the ban in February 2020 after ruling that City had committed ‘serious breaches’ of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016.

Pinto, who received a six-month suspended sentence in November after admitting to illegally accessing confidential information on Paris Saint-Germain, revealed that he had been sent anonymous death threats since he began Football Leaks.

“I know that a group of European football clubs were investigating me,” he added. “They met in London and were very worried about new leaks. They were looking to gather information about my life.”