LISBON (Reuters) – Portuguese, the online football leaks page, said at the beginning of his trial on Friday that he was proud to be a whistleblower of the big agreements of European football clubs.
Rui Pinto, a 31-year-old former history student, faces 90 fees, ranging from unauthorized to knowledge and correspondence violation to attempted extortion, in the case before the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon.
“I’m not a hacker. I’m a whistleblower … My paintings have contributed to freedom of expression,” he said, dressed in an anti-coronavirus mask, dressed in jeans and shoes and appearing calm during his opening speech.
“The revelations are serious and I am proud, there is no shame.I didn’t do anything for money,” added Pinto, who in the past presented himself as an anti-corruption activist.
Football Leaks’ knowledge showed how some of football’s richest and most vital personalities have strayed from taxes by channeling their source of income abroad and providing information about the other wealthy Gulf people and organizations that have become influential in the sport.
He also looked at the massive sums of cash circulating in the big clubs and the asymmetrical one in which the government enforces the rules.
The documents provided some of the evidence that led to a ban, since it was cancelled, from Manchester City of the English Premier League of the European Champions League for alleged violations of monetary fair play rules.
Pinto was arrested in Hungary in January 2019, then released from space arrest and is now under witness protection, facing up to 25 years in prison for the fees against him.
Whistleblowers from Sporting Football Club, the Portuguese Football Federation, investment fund Dean Sports and law firm PLMJ were presented at the opening of the trial on Monday.
Dean’s lawyer, Sofia Branco Ribeiro, accused Pinto of illegally accessing his knowledge and attempting to extort the company for 1 million euros ($1.18 million).Pinto’s lawyer, Francisco Teixeira da Moto, called the accusations “regrettable.”
Police kept the court fences, while two supporters held an image of Pinto in solidarity.
The trial is expected to last until December and come with the testimony of forty-five witnesses, adding fugitive Edward Snowden, a fugitive from American intelligence, as a defenseman.
In January, Pinto said he was also guilty of leaking thousands of files on alleged monetary schemes used through the Angolan billionaire and former first daughter Isabel dos Santos to build a business empire.
Angola has opened investigations by criminals, but dos Santos has denied misunderstood.
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Reporting through Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira; Written through Victoria WalderseeArray; Edited by Andrew Cawthorne
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