The Portuguese hacker and whistleblower Rui Pinto, who was behind the so-called Football Leaks, spoke this week with French, Belgian and German judicial officials about his revelations. He has also given these investigative authorities access to approximately twenty terabytes of data with tens of millions of confidential documents from the football world, but also about tax havens such as Malta and the Cayman Islands, and corruption in Angola.
The now 35-year-old Portuguese shared more than seventy million documents about the football world with the German weekly magazine in 2016. Der Spiegelwhich then shared the data with the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) investigative network, wherever NRC is part of. The confidential documents painted a picture of large-scale abuses, abuse of power and corruption in the football world. The revelations prompted investigations into players, their agents, lawyers and tax advisors in several countries.
Hacking Portuguese OM
Pinto was arrested in Budapest in early 2019 at the request of Portuguese justice. He was subsequently charged with, among other things, illegally hacking the computer systems of several organizations, including the Portuguese Football Federation and the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service.
He was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison in Portugal last year, but did not have to go to jail due to an amnesty scheme for young criminals.
Pinto had already shared the data with investigative authorities in France before he was arrested, but after Pinto ended up in jail, the authorities could no longer gain access to the encrypted data.
Because his criminal case in Portugal has now been completed, Pinto was able to give investigative authorities from France, Belgium and Germany access to the data more than seven years after the revelations about the football world.
Speaking to journalists from European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), Pinto said this week that it is the “first time that European authorities other than the Portuguese have been given full access to the data. The real investigation will now begin.”
Eurojust
The Portuguese was in Paris last Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of the French financial prosecutor in collaboration with Eurojust, the EU agency for judicial cooperation. A spokesperson for the French prosecutor mentioned the dates to the French Media partparticipant in EIC, “promising”.
In addition to the revelations about the football world, Pinto was also behind the so-called Luanda Leaks, a 2020 data leak about Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former president of Angola. These documents, including emails, contracts and bank accounts, showed how Dos Santos acquired major interests in oil, telecom and diamonds, among others, and how she had enriched herself at the expense of Angola. Dutch companies played an important role in this and to date, proceedings are being conducted regarding Dos Santos’ business transactions that were conducted through Dutch BVs. Dos Santos has always denied that she amassed her wealth – she was called the richest woman in Africa – by stealing from Angola.
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These revelations about Dos Santos and Angola – a former colony of Portugal – changed his situation in Portugal, Pinto said this week. “The stories about Dos Santos caused a big shock in Portugal and that was the moment that the Portuguese judiciary suddenly became interested in the data.” But according to Pinto, that subsequently came to nothing. “In Portugal they never seriously investigated the content of the data.”
That is why he is happy that he was able to talk to French, Belgian and German investigative authorities last week. “They are actually interested in the data and the content.”
Pinto is not yet out of legal trouble in Portugal. After the first criminal case, the judiciary is preparing a second case against him, also based on the Football Leaks. “My life is completely ruined. I have no job and am in a safe house because of all the threats.”