Football Leaks Founder Rui Pinto in Talks with UK Authorities on Sporting Crime Investigations

Rui Pinto is reportedly in discussions with UK authorities to assist in uncovering sporting and financial crime in exchange for police protection.

Rui Pinto, the football whistleblower whose leaks prompted an investigation into Manchester City’s financial conduct, has held talks with United Kingdom authorities about assisting with efforts to uncover financial and sporting crime, according to British media reports.

Pinto’s legal team has been contacted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after he expressed willingness to support UK investigations in exchange for police protection, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera sought confirmation of the reported contact, but the SFO declined to confirm whether discussions with the whistleblower are underway.

“In line with long-established practice to avoid prejudice to law enforcement activity, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation into this matter,” the SFO said in an emailed statement to Al Jazeera.

Pinto appeared to corroborate the reports by sharing an article on his social media account.

The 38-year-old founded Football Leaks, a website that obtained private documents showing Manchester City violated league rules between 2009 and 2018. The disclosures led to a probe by the Premier League’s independent commission.

City were found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges brought against them over breaches of Premier League financial regulations.

Pinto’s lawyer, William Bourdon—who has represented high-profile whistleblowers such as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden—told The Guardian: “I can confirm that the process is under way.”

Last month, Pinto said he feared for his life after being informed that his witness protection programme would end on October 10. He subsequently launched a crowdfunding campaign to help him establish an anonymous new life.

“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 in a social media post.

“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.”

“For this reason, I have just set up a GoFundMe campaign and I am asking for everyone’s support to help me survive this serious situation created by the Portuguese State, which, as I have already stated, has knowingly decided to place my life at risk.”

However, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice said it would extend his protection pending a new hearing, after Pinto’s lawyers challenged the decision.

Reports last month indicated that Pinto had reached out to UK authorities to offer cooperation in ongoing investigations in exchange for security measures.

At the start of his trial in April 2020, Pinto said he was “proud” to be a whistleblower exposing the high-value dealings of European football clubs.

The former history student and self-taught computer expert faced 90 charges—ranging from unauthorised data access and violation of correspondence to attempted extortion—in the case heard at Lisbon’s Central Criminal Court.

“I don’t consider myself a hacker. I am a whistleblower,” he said at the time. “The revelations are serious and I’m proud; there’s no shame. I haven’t done anything for money,” added Pinto, who acknowledges releasing 70 million documents on football’s internal operations.

He received a four-year suspended sentence in September 2023 for illegally obtaining documents, committing other cybercrimes, and attempted extortion. He was later acquitted on 241 separate counts in a second trial in April 2026 after the court ruled the charges were “invalid.”

Pinto has been a protected witness since August 2020 after agreeing to grant Portuguese authorities access to millions of files gathered before his arrest. His first trial in Portugal began a month later.

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