Rui Pinto, 37, posted the news on X on Friday evening. His account was that Portuguese authorities moved against his protected status within hours of the independent commission ruling against Manchester City, the club whose finances his leaks helped expose.
“On Wednesday, just hours after the verdict officially confirming Manchester City’s guilt, the Commission responsible for Portugal’s witness protection programme informed me of its decision to terminate my participation in the programme and withdraw my police protection, thereby knowingly placing me in a life-threatening situation,” he wrote.
Pinto said he had no alternative but to move within days.
“Given these circumstances, I have no alternative but to relocate, within the next few days, to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period of time, due to the multiple death threats I have received and the serious risk of an assassination attempt against me.”
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From Football Leaks to the Premier League case
Pinto, a Portuguese computer specialist, founded Football Leaks in 2015 under the pseudonym “John”. Between 2016 and 2018 he leaked more than 70 million confidential documents, including the files Premier League investigators used to build the nine-year case against Manchester City covering the 2009-2018 seasons.
He entered Portugal’s witness-protection programme in August 2020 after agreeing to grant authorities access to his archive. In September 2023 a Portuguese court handed him a four-year suspended sentence for offences including illegal data access and attempted extortion. In April 2026 he was assaulted in Lisbon.
The Guardian, as cited by Al Jazeera, reported that Portuguese police nonetheless assessed his risk level as low. He has been advised to avoid social media, stay away from crowded places and exercise caution with family contacts.
“More vulnerable now than at any time since 2020”
A statement from Pinto’s lawyers said he had been “abruptly deprived of his protected housing and plunged into extreme precariousness” and was “reportedly more vulnerable now than at any time since 2020.”
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His lawyers have filed an administrative appeal against the decision. They say the appeal has suspensive effect, halting the termination while the challenge is processed.
Pinto has launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the relocation. During his first trial in 2020 he wore a bulletproof vest in court.
City lodge their appeal
An independent commission ruled on Tuesday that Manchester City had committed serious breaches of Premier League financial rules across nine seasons, upholding 114 of the 115 charges. The club said it was “disappointed and surprised” and vowed to be “relentless” in its appeal.
Manchester City lodged that appeal this week, calling the commission’s opinion “unsafe” and arguing it contained “clear material errors of law, principle and fact”.
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The appeal will be heard by a new three-person commission. No sanction has been set; the commission still has to run a separate hearing on punishment, with options ranging from a fine to a heavy points deduction to expulsion from the Premier League.
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