Cristiano Ronaldo could be requested to provide evidence in a new case against Rui Pinto, an alleged hacker from Portugal.
Rui Pinto, the man apparently behind Football Leaks has been indicted by authorities in Portugal with 377 different crimes.
The Portuguese, who has a hair similar to that of a hedgehog and is the source of over 18 million documents will discover his fate this week.
Pinto will know if he has been found guilty of 90 separate charges in a differing trial that has spanned over two years.
However, the 34-year-old, who has expressed that he is a whistleblower whose personality must not be revealed, learnt last week that he faces a seemingly insurmountable number of charges.
Cristiano Ronaldo set to testify against Rui Pinto
Ronaldo has been named in the midst of a group of above 100 individuals who could be requested to depone in a case instituted by the Public Ministry of Portugal.
Several teams have allegedly been affected by Pinto’s work, including treble winners Manchester City and Spanish heavyweights Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The new charges that were dated for the 4th of July, 2023 and were signed by prosecutor Vera Camacho stated the reason for the whistleblower indictments.
They shared that 202 out of the 377 charges are for qualified unlawful access, 134 are for violation of correspondence, 23 for aggravated violation of correspondence and 18 charges are for computer damage.
Portugal’s Public Ministry are claiming that Pinto attempted: “to gain surreptitious and unauthorized access to the computer systems of various entities”.
They are also alleging that Pinto acted “with the intention of improperly entering the computer systems”.
Rui Pinto illegally accessed the mail of Ronaldo’s legal representative
Prosecutors claim that Rui Pinto unlawfully accessed the email of a lawyer working for Ronaldo.
He afterwards offered the German outlet, Der Spiegel information concerning a rape allegation made by a woman in Las Vegas.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s legal team expressed that the document shared by Der Spiegel was “completely fabricated” in efforts to damage the reputation of the football star.
In 2022, a judge based in Nevada dissolved a lawsuit lodged by the complainant due to the fact that the woman’s attorney had shown “bad-faith conduct” by using “purloined” restricted documents.
On Thursday, July 13, 2023, the Central Criminal Court based in Lisbon is expected to rule in a different case if Rui Pinto is guilty of 89 hacking crimes and an extra indictment of attempted extortion.
Rui Pinto’s trial set to end
This will signal the culmination of a process that started in January 2019, when the man behind Football Leaks was apprehended in Budapest and extradited.
Only the trial has spanned a period of above two years and prosecutors in the initial trial have expressed that they feel Pinto was a loner when he accessed millions of those confidential files.
Whilst the proceedings were ongoing, Pinto had requested that the court grant him a protective status due to him being a whistleblower.
However, he later admitted to hacking and he showed remorse for an apparent plot to blackmail a top executive from an investment fund.
Pinto’s legal representatives has previously said that he believes his client will be found guilty and sentenced to prison.
Rui Pinto however expressed to the court that he didn’t partake in any of those actions due to money.
He said: “I was outraged by what I discovered and I decided to make it public. I never did anything for money.”
The whistleblower later stated that he “recognises that” his “conduct could be framed as extortion”.
That was due to an accusation that he requested money from Nelio Lucas, the CEO of Doyen Sports.
Doyen Sports is a Malta-based and Kazakh-funded investment organization that has made money from the transfer of players.
It was also reported that his victims also allegedly included the Portuguese side, Sporting Lisbon and the Portuguese Football Federation into the legal tussle.
Has Rui Pinto’s Football Leaks being helpful?
Rui Pinto’s acts have also produced rightful dividend on many occasions as club’s found guilty have been punished appropriately.
The first Football Leaks website stated when it launched in 2015 that what spurred the whistleblower was purely the need to put a spotlight on “the principal protagonists in the dishonest football industry”.
Documents put out by Rui Pinto several years back was what led UEFA to ban Manchester City from the UEFA Champions League.
But the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled the ban heaped on the Citizens for their wrongdoing.
Manchester City claimed that the leaks were an “organized” and clear” attempt to harm their reputation and have repeatedly denied doing any wrong whatsoever.
However, these documents published by Rui Pinto’s Football Leaks will still be used by the Premier League in their case against City, having confirmed 115 charges of misconduct earlier in 2023.
Documents in connection with Paris Saint Germain financial operations were also among the files.
In November, 2018 PSG stated that it had “always strictly complied with all applicable laws and regulations and firmly denies the allegations.”
In another case, the club also admitted to profiling young footballers racially for many years in the previous decade, after a different leak emanated.
Rui Pinto’s leaks have once resulted in Ronaldo and Mourinho being prosecuted
Several big name stars, players and coaches have also been prosecuted with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho amongst them.
Ronaldo accepted a €18.8 million fine in 2019 after Spanish prosecutors said that he had been found guilty of committing “voluntary and conscious breach of his fiscal obligations” while he was playing for Real Madrid.
Jose Mourinho was also handed a one-year suspended prison sentence and he agreed to part with €2.2 million following charges for several tax breaches.
Additionally, the federal prosecutor of Switzerland Michael Lauber tendered his resignation after secret conversations with Gianni Infantino in connection to historic corruption at FIFA were leaked.
Rui Pinto also talked about plans by clubs in Europe to form a European Super League.
He also published documents detailing how third-party ownership resulted in agencies scooping millions from the economic rights of high profile players.
