Portuguese lawyers for Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto said on Friday, October 2, that they will challenge a decision to end the special security programme he has been under since August 2020, warning that the move leaves him without a guaranteed safe house from October 10.
Pinto, 37, whose full name is Rui Pedro Gonçalves Pinto, was told on Wednesday that Portugal’s Commission for Special Security Programmes had closed the arrangement. Portuguese outlets Jornal de Notícias and Expresso reported that the commission reached the decision unanimously after meetings on June 8 and July 9, 2026, with effect from October 10. Expresso identified the commission’s president as Orlando Romano, a former director of the Judicial Police and former national director of the Public Security Police.
The Friday statement was issued jointly by his Portuguese lawyers, Francisco Teixeira da Mota and Luisa Teixeira da Mota, and his French representatives, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth. They said Pinto was not heard before the decision, which they argue the law requires. They said he would lose the confidential residence assigned to him and would have to find new housing urgently, with no guarantee that police protection would continue.
The lawyers described the consequences as grave. They said threats against him were not theoretical, noting that he was assaulted in Lisbon in April. Portuguese outlet SOL reported that the attack took place near Campo Pequeno as he left the protected residence. The Guardian, which first reported the withdrawal of protection on Wednesday, said he was left with a bruised eyebrow, that police were informed, and that no formal complaint was filed.
They also said his disclosures had implicated powerful figures and that related legal proceedings were still open. In the statement, the defence accused the authorities of an act they called “state terrorism” and said the manner of the decision did not respect the rule of law. They said they had asked the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday to reconsider, to release the risk assessment behind the decision, to hear Pinto, and to keep his protection in place in any event. As of the Friday statement, they said no reply had been received. They said they would file an administrative appeal with suspensive effect, which, if granted, would pause the closure while the challenge is heard.
The Guardian reported that Portuguese police had assessed the risk to Pinto as low, despite the April assault and the continuing fallout from investigations linked to his leaks. Publico reported that he has been advised to avoid especially controversial comments and posts, to stay away from large gatherings, to be cautious in contact with relatives, and to avoid social media.
Pinto has been a protected witness since August 2020, after he agreed to give Portuguese authorities access to millions of files gathered before his arrest. He was arrested in Hungary in January 2019, extradited to Portugal, and spent more than a year in pre-trial detention before cooperating. A Portuguese court in September 2023 gave him a suspended four-year sentence after convicting him of attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence. He has also worked with investigators in other European countries.
The files he began publishing in late 2015, later examined by a group of European news organisations, exposed financial arrangements involving players, clubs and agents, and fed tax inquiries and court cases in several countries. Material from the leaks helped prompt the English Premier League’s long investigation into Manchester City.
That case has returned Pinto to public attention. Reuters reported on Friday that an independent commission found City guilty of charges covering breaches of the league’s financial rules over nine seasons, from 2009/10 to 2017/18, and of three of four charges of failing to cooperate with the inquiry. The league said the club had used what it called sham commercial contracts to inflate revenue and understate costs by more than £900 million. City has denied wrongdoing and appealed. Pinto has described the finding on social media as historic for English football. His lawyers say proceedings flowing from the leaks, including that case, are among the reasons protection should continue.
Whether police protection will stop entirely on October 10 is not yet settled in public accounts. SOL reported that the end of confidential housing is clear, but that continued police protection could still depend on a separate decision. The defence’s appeal, if it has suspensive effect, could also delay the closure. As of Friday, the confirmed position is that the special security programme is due to end on October 10, the lawyers have asked for a reversal and filed to suspend the decision, and the Ministry of Justice had not publicly answered their request.
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