Portuguese court convicts hacker whose leaks rocked football

LISBON: A court in Portugal on Monday (Sep 11) convicted the hacker Rui Pinto over his "Football Leaks" revelations that exposed dodgy dealings in international football, sentencing him to a suspended four-year prison term.

It was the biggest information leak in sports history and sparked criminal investigations in Belgium, Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland.

Pinto, 34, argued he was a whistle-blower acting in the public interest, but prosecutors charged him with 89 hacking offences and attempted extortion, a crime punishable in Portugal by up to 10 years in prison.

The Lisbon court convicted him on five counts of "illegitimate access" to IT systems and three counts of "correspondence violations", along with the attempted extortion against the investment fund Doyen Sports.

"The freedom to inform does not justify violations of privacy," presiding judge Margarida Alves told the court where Pinto, who had been released from house arrest while awaiting trial, appeared wearing a surgical mask and his trademark outfit of jeans and dark blue shirt.

"The court has no doubt ... It has clearly been established that he was hoping to get money," Alves said.

Prosecutors alleged that Pinto sought between €500,000 to €1 million (US$537,000-US$1.07 million) from the head of Doyen Sports, Nelio Lucas, in order to stop publishing compromising documents.

Between 2015 and 2018, Pinto shared 18.6 million documents on the internet and with a consortium of European newspapers, which published details of the revelations that shook the football world.

They included the salaries of Lionel Messi and Neymar, an accusation of rape against Cristiano Ronaldo, alleged financial sleight of hand at Manchester City and ethnic profiling at Paris Saint Germain.