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Rui Pinto’s Bells of Justice
Nearly two years after he had been arrested in Budapest, Rui Pinto’s trial began in the Lisbon District Court on September 4, 2020, accompanied by his lawyers, Francisco Teixeira da Mota and Luísa Teixeira da Mota. On September 11, 2023, the mastermind behind Football Leaks faced charges for 89 computer intrusion offenses and one extortion attempt, and he was sentenced to only a four-year suspended sentence.
Trial and Error
Rui Pinto faced a total of 90 charges, including 68 counts of improper access, 14 counts of breach of correspondence, six counts of illegitimate access, one count of computer sabotage, and the most severe charge of attempted extortion against Doyen Sports Investments and its former CEO Nélio Lucas. The hacking activities extended to various victims, including Doyen Sports Investments, members of Sporting CP, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the law firm PLMJ, and the Attorney General’s Office as well as many European Football players.
During his trial, he identified himself as a whistleblower rather than a hacker, highlighted his collaboration with various authorities, expressed pride in his revelations, and said that he had never received any money for his disclosures. He concluded by declaring that his role as a whistleblower was complete.
Rui Pinto tries again
On October 10, 2022, Rui Pinto spoke in court again, however this time he gave contradicting statements to those he had previously made. He justified this by citing his psychological fragility at the time of his arrest and the extensive media coverage of his extradition from Budapest to Lisbon. He admitted to lying to the judge who had questioned him upon his arrival in Portugal.
During the trial, Rui Pinto acknowledged certain computer intrusions but denied others he was charged with. He opted not to comment on unrelated matters due to his participation in other probes both in Portugal and internationally. He believed that legally accessing confidential football data was not feasible, leading him to use illegitimate means to target various national and international organizations.
The accused then sought the assistance of Aníbal Pinto, a lawyer who had once represented him in an embezzlement case of 260,000 euros from the Caledonian Bank in the Cayman Islands. This attorney later met with Nélio Lucas to discuss a potential payment to prevent further document leaks. Unaware to Aníbal Pinto, the meeting was under surveillance by the Portuguese Judicial Police, triggered by Lucas’ extortion claim. This encounter allowed authorities to pinpoint the hacker as the mastermind behind the Football Leaks blog.
Divine Intervention
After Pinto’s failed attempt at blackmail, the Football Leaks page was uploaded to the LiveJournal platform on September 29, 2015. Later posts involved documentation from Doyen, whose computer system had been compromised on September 20, 2015.
He also set up an email to send a message to Nélio Lucas on October 3, 2015, stating that “the leak is much bigger than you think…” and threatening to reveal extensive information about DSI’s activities and its CEO in the press and online. Subsequently, he sent another message, still using the identity of Artem Lobuzov, requesting a “generous donation” ranging from 500,000 to one million euros to prevent further disclosure of Doyen documents. He took responsibility for sending these emails and acknowledged mentioning this amount.
However, the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Lisbon for World Youth Day 2023 delayed the verdict and sentencing. Recognizing the significance of the visit, the government decided to grant amnesty to pardon certain crimes committed by young offenders aged 16 to 30. Rui Pinto fell into this category perfectly: he was under 30 when he committed the offenses he was accused of, and many of these offenses carried penalties of less than a year.
The Bell of Justice
On September 11, 2023, the judge began by presenting the facts that the court had deemed proven, which essentially included all the accusations against Rui Pinto, except for the charge of computer sabotage against Sporting and the unauthorized access to the club’s former president’s email inbox. Regarding the extortion attempt, the judges found both Rui Pinto and his co-defendant Aníbal Pinto guilty, dismissing Rui Pinto’s claims that he was unaware he was committing extortion when he requested between 500,000 and one million euros from Nélio Lucas to refrain from releasing further information about Doyen, or that he was merely attempting to provoke Doyen.
One of the three presiding judges, Honorable Judge Margarida Alves rejected the notion that Pinto could be afforded whistleblower protection, asserting that such protection should be contingent upon not engaging in illegal activities to acquire information. The judge further emphasized that the right to free speech cannot serve as a valid justification for breaching the confidentiality of correspondence.
In the end, the accused was sentenced to a four-year suspended sentence in addition to reparations to be made. He was ordered to pay 3,000 euros to Doyen, 15,000 euros to lawyer João Medeiros, 2,000 euros to lawyer Rui Costa Pereira, and the same amount to lawyer Inês Almeida Costa.
Rui Pinto’s legal challenges are not yet resolved. There is a possibility of appeals being filed, as some of the victims expressed dissatisfaction with the suspended sentence he received. Furthermore, similar investigations are currently underway, at least in Spain and France. He is facing a new trial in Portugal due to his recent prosecution for 377 computer-related crimes. While some of these may qualify for amnesty for young offenders, not all will be covered. For now, it appears that Rui Pinto has gotten off too easy, but the bell of justice isn’t done ringing.
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