Football Leaks Mastermind Rui Pinto Escapes Jail Time, Receives Suspended Sentence for Extortion Attempt
Rui Pinto, founder of Football Leaks, receives suspended sentence for attempted extortion, illegal data access, and breach of correspondence Lisbon court verdict follows Pinto's arrest in Hungary in 2019
The mastermind behind the Football Leaks website, which exposed classified information regarding football transfers and contracts, has evaded imprisonment. Rui Pinto, a Portuguese individual responsible for the platform, received a suspended sentence from a Lisbon court. Judge Margarida Alves pronounced him guilty of attempted extortion, unauthorized data access, and violation of correspondence.
The website was established in 2015 by a 34-year-old ex-history student and self-taught computer genius. Its purpose was to disseminate classified documents involving transfer fees and agreements among sports organizations.
In January 2019, Pinto was apprehended in Hungary. However, he was subsequently released from house arrest and placed under witness protection. The trial commenced in September 2020.
"The court has ruled that Rui Pinto will receive a single four-year sentence, yet he will not be required to serve it in prison," stated the judge. "The court expresses its hope that Rui Pinto's demonstrated remorse in court is sincere and that he abstains from engaging in similar acts in the future."
Rui Pinto confronted a total of 90 charges, encompassing unauthorized data access, breach of correspondence, and attempted extortion. Despite acknowledging his divulgence of over 70 million documents, he contended that he acted as a whistleblower in the best interest of the public.
Judge Alves from the Lisbon Central Criminal Court ruled that Rui Pinto, despite his actions as a whistleblower, cannot be granted legal protection due to the fact that he had engaged in criminal activities to obtain the aforementioned information prior to being aware of its contents. Among the entities targeted by Pinto were Sporting, the Portuguese Football Federation, Doyen Sports investment fund, and PLMJ law firm.
The judge ruled that Rui Pinto and lawyer Anibal Pinto are guilty of attempted extortion, seeking to obtain an amount between 500,000 and 1m euros from Doyen, in exchange for withholding damaging information about Doyen's reputation. Furthermore, as part of a government amnesty declared in June, a total of 77 charges related to unauthorized access and breach of correspondence were pardoned for certain young individuals.
