“The Football Leaks are a source of pride and not of shame,” he said this Friday. Rui Pinto at the beginning of his trial in Lisbon, source of these revelations that shook the world of football.
“I was outraged by what I discovered and decided to make it public,” the 31-year-old Portuguese said in a short opening statement after the start of the hearing.
“My job as a whistleblower is over (…) I've never done anything for the money, ”added Pinto, his face covered by a surgical mask, wearing jeans. and a dark blue shirt with rolled up sleeves.
The Football Leaks uncovered tax evasion mechanisms, suspected fraud and corruption involving several star players and club managers.
In a trial expected to last several months, Rui Pinto faces 90 charges, including a number of computer crimes and correspondence violations. He is also charged with attempted extortion against the investment fund Doyen Sports, which sparked the case by filing a complaint in October 2015.
In Portugal, the crime of attempted extortion is punishable by between 2 years and 5 months and 10 years in prison.
The 'hacker's' lawyers, who have described him from the beginning as “a great European whistleblower”They will call 45 witnesses, including Edward Snowden, a former US intelligence service employee accused of espionage, or former French finance judge Eva Joly.
After his extradition from Hungary, where he was living when he was arrested in January 2019, and spending a year in preventive detention in Portugal, Rui Pinto has decided to cooperate with the judicial system of his country in other cases and benefits from a protected witness status.