Rui Pinto, the whistleblower behind the leaks that exposed Manchester City’s breaches of financial fair play, claims he has been vindicated by the verdict released on Friday.
Pinto described the ruling as a “historic decision for English football” after City were found guilty of almost all of the more than 100 financial charges brought by the Premier League. City deny wrongdoing and are expected to appeal.
Pinto’s Football Leaks operation was responsible for obtaining millions of confidential football documents, including emails and financial records relating to City.
Material concerning the club was passed to the German publication Der Spiegel and its investigative partners and formed part of the reporting that led to Uefa and Premier League investigations.
The Premier League began its investigation in 2019, after the Football Leaks disclosures had raised questions about City’s finances. The club were eventually charged in February 2023 with alleged breaches covering several areas, including the provision of financial information, player and manager remuneration, profitability and sustainability rules and cooperation with the investigation.
Pinto said the verdict supported his argument that the documents had exposed serious financial wrongdoing at City. He described the findings as evidence of “structural manipulation and financial manoeuvring” and claimed the rules had been reduced to a “mere formality”.
“That meticulously orchestrated fraud will finally be subject to punishment, and the impact will not merely be turbulent, but truly devastating for the Cityzens,” he said in a statement.
City have rejected the allegations from the very beginning. After reports of the verdict emerged, a club spokesperson said: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.” The club also said its position remained that it had acted properly and would continue to follow due process.
Pinto’s role has brought him considerable legal problems. He was arrested in Budapest in 2019 in connection with allegations including attempted extortion and cybercrime and later received a four-year suspended prison sentence.
He later reached an agreement with Portuguese authorities and became a protected witness. He is still under police protection.
His lawyer, Teixeira da Mota, said the outcome was significant for Pinto after years spent living under protection.
“I think it’s important for him because it’s very difficult to be like he is, living a very difficult life, more or less hiding, because he made some revelations, he whistle-blowed lots of important things, namely about Manchester City,” he said.
“So it would be important for him to feel vindicated that it was useful, that something happened, because of what he said.”
