Lawyer claims: ‘Moral reward’ for Football Leaks hackers in Man City case

With the claim of wanting to “show the hidden side of football”, Football Leaks passed on millions of documents to media outlets in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) consortium, a network of investigative journalists.

These included revelations about “third-party ownership,” the salaries of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi and Brazilian striker Neymar, secret talks about the creation of the European Super League, and alleged cases of tax evasion by several top soccer players.

Paris Saint-Germain also admitted that scouts had racially profiled young players following an investigation based on documents shared with Football Leaks, but the club denied any responsibility.

Pinto, a self-taught computer mastermind, was arrested in Hungary in 2019 and extradited to Portugal. He was released from custody in August 2020 but remains under witness protection for security reasons.

Pinto insisted his actions were in the public interest, but last year he was convicted of five counts of “unlawful access” to IT systems and three counts of “correspondence breach”, as well as attempted extortion of investment fund Doyen Sports. Prosecutors alleged Pinto demanded between £429,400 and £858,800 from the Doyen boss to prevent the publication of compromising documents.

When confronted with the illegality of his client’s activities, Bourdon said: “Of course he did not find all this information in a church. He was very young, he was naive. He should have been acquitted.”

“Football should be grateful to him,” emphasises Bourdon. “The tax authorities should be grateful to him.”

“I hope that one day someone will shake Pinto’s hand and say, ‘Thank you, you did a great job and you deserve a reward … for what you did.'”

Bourdon said Pinto had received death threats and it would be “very difficult for him to face a second trial.”

The lawyer said that Judge Margarida Alves – who presided over Pinto’s first trial – noted: “We must not forget his contribution, his contribution to uncovering facts that were the starting point for major criminal investigations across Europe… to open the eyes of humanity, of European citizens, to see what was beneath the great wall of [the] football industry.”

However, she also told the court in Lisbon: “Freedom of information does not justify an invasion of privacy.” And she added: “The court has no doubts… It is clearly proven that he was hoping for money.”

In 2023, Pinto was also given a six-month suspended sentence in a separate trial in Paris after admitting to illegally gaining access to confidential information about PSG.