Three years ago today, Rui Pinto, the creator of Football Leaks, was arrested in Hungary, under a European arrest warrant for computer crimes committed in Portugal. An important whistleblower of white-collar crimes for some, an unscrupulous pirate for others, Rui Pinto is on trial for having spied on about 60 email boxes from Sporting, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the PLMJ law firm and of the investment fund Doyen, who accused him of attempted extortion. But he is targeted in more criminal cases that should lead him to sit in the dock.
Three years ago, the Hungarian police arrested Rui Pinto in his modest apartment in Budapest. There, computer material containing millions of relevant information about football cases, corruption, tax evasion in international schemes were seized. The investigation by the Judiciary Police had already gathered enough evidence to charge him with the computer intrusions for which he is currently on trial, but there were also other cases.
On March 21, 2019, he was extradited to Portugal, where he was held in preventive detention. Six months later, during which time he did not want to cooperate with justice for fear of incriminating himself, he was accused of close to 150 crimes.
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