Football Leaks: Informant Rui Pinto convicted of computer hacking and attempted extortion

He is at the origins of the Football Leaks revelations. Portugal’s Rui Pinto, who leaked a number of incriminating documents into the underbelly of the football business, was jailed for four years on Monday for eight computer crimes and attempted extortion of investment fund Doyen Sports. suspended prison sentence.

“In essence, the facts stated (in the indictment, editor’s note) were considered proven,” presiding judge Margarida Alves said at the start of the summary of the decision she read to the Lisbon court. Although Ruy Pinto was responsible for 89 computer crimes, he was found guilty of five counts of “illegal access” to computer systems and three counts of “aggravated correspondence violation,” she said. “Freedom of information does not justify violations of privacy,” the presiding judge said.

Illegal intrusions

As for the charge of attempted extortion, “the court had no doubts. (…) It was clearly established that he (Ruy Pinto, editor’s note) wanted to get money,” said Judge Margarida Alves. According to the prosecution, he wanted to blackmail Doyen’s boss, the Portuguese Nelio Lucas, by demanding between 500,000 and one million euros to stop the publication of incriminating documents.

Both an accused and a protected witness in his country’s justice system, the 34-year-old claims to be an informant but admitted before judges that he carried out illegal computer intrusions to obtain millions of documents, which he began publishing directly online at the end of 2015. This extensive information, shared with a consortium of European investigative media, revealed questionable practices involving star players, clubs and agents, who were then the subject of tax and legal investigations in several countries.

From the publication of the salaries of Lionel Messi or Neymar to the rape accusation against Cristiano Ronaldo, which has since been dismissed, including strategies to bypass financial fair play at Manchester City or ethnic registration at Paris Saint-Germain, the football world has been deeply shocked by this gigantic information leak.