Hacker in witness protection threatens to release emails proving Man City's corruption regarding FFP breaches

The hacker responsible for exposing Manchester City of fudging the Premier League Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, way back in 2018, has now threatened to release more evidence against the UAE-owned club.

The hacker named, Rui Pinto, founder of the website 'Football Leaks' has alleged that he provided authorities in Germany and France with 'millions' of damning documents that will show City's 'criminal relevancy'.

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"The Man City releases showed amounts of money being paid into by the club that were not mentioned to the football authorities. These documents are from part of the Premier League investigation into City,"Pinto told the OffShore-Alert Marbella Conference via video link.

"I have now handed five hard drives to French and German authorities with millions of documents, including more on City and I have described what is on each. I am confident they will find criminal relevancy," he added.

Pinto has been under a witness protection programme since 2020 after being handed a four-year suspended sentence by a court in Portugal last year. He avoided prison, despite being found guilty of illegal access to data and attempted extortion.

Pinto's legal counsel said they hadn't made the information public yet and refrained from providing a timeline on the said expose.

"We have been approached by investigators to share information regarding Manchester City that has not been released before. We haven’t released the information yet but we have a massive file of Manchester City-related documents that has yet to be released. The files will be published at some point, we cannot say when but we will do it."

The Portuguese whistleblower had previously leaked plans between clubs to attempt to form the European Super League - a rival to the current UEFA Champions League, along with details of salaries of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pinto's actions led UEFA to ban City from European competitions for two years but the decision was overturned as the club owned by the vice president of UAE, used its legion of attorneys to get the decision in its favour.

What are the 115 charges against Man City?

The Manchester-based club is facing 115 charges related to the breach of Premier League regulations. The clubis accusedof providing inaccurate financial information between 2009 to 2018. It also failed to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009 to 2018. Additionally, itfailedto comply with UEFA's ruling, including Financial Fair Play (FFP) between 2013-14and2017-18.

Between 2015 to 2018, the club hasbeen chargedwith sevenbreachesof Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Whilethe likes ofEverton and Nottingham Forest have been punished this season for breachingPSR,City are yet to face any action.

(With inputs from agencies)