More documents are allegedly being released by the hacker who sparked inquiries into Manchester City’s financial affairs by UEFA and the Premier League.
The hacker Rui Pinto of Football Leaks says he helped the Premier League with an investigation into 115 allegations and then gave evidence to Manchester City that he felt had “criminal relevancy”.
Following Pinto’s publication of hacked emails pertaining to City employees in the German journal Der Spiegel, UEFA and the Premier League began looking into the club’s financial practices. The Court of Arbitration for Sport reversed a two-year Champions League suspension that UEFA had imposed, and the Blues will learn the results of the hearing into the 115 Premier League allegations they vehemently reject next year.
Having been under witness protection since 2020, Pinto addressed the OffShore-Alert Marbella Conference from a safe home, stating that the materials he had acquired were related to the Premier League inquiry. Furthermore, he mentioned that there were additional unpublished data that would demonstrate “criminal relevancy”.
“The Man City releases showed amounts of money being paid into by the club that were not mentioned to the football authorities,” he stated. “These records are a component of the Premier League’s inquiry against City.
“I have now given five hard drives with millions of documents, including more on City, to the authorities in France and Germany. I have also detailed the contents of each disc. I have no doubt that they’ll discover criminal significance.”
The only penalty imposed on City for not cooperating with an inquiry into leaks that a previous arbitration panel had deemed “worrisome” was validated at CAS after the club denied all of the charges made by UEFA in 2020. Regarding the Premier League charges they are facing, the club claims to have “irrefutable evidence” to back up their claims.
Pinto claims to have been requested for further documents regarding City, which he is happy to provide, in addition to the Premier League case. His attorney stated: “We have received an invitation from investigators to provide previously undisclosed evidence on Manchester City.
“We have a sizable file of Manchester City-related documents that we haven’t yet disclosed, but we haven’t shared the information yet. The files will be made public eventually; we just don’t know when yet.”
For comment, City could not be reached right away.
