Football Leaks whistleblower Rui Pinto faces the removal of his protected witness status in Portugal after his lawyers said he was notified that the security programme supporting him since August 2020 would end on October 10. They said he could lose his secure, confidential housing without a prior hearing and have no guarantee of continued police protection. The lawyers cited his assault in Lisbon last April and said legal proceedings resulting from his disclosures remain ongoing. Pinto, 37, entered the programme after agreeing to give Portuguese authorities access to millions of encrypted files collected through the Football Leaks operation. Arrested in Hungary in January 2019 and extradited to Portugal, he spent more than a year in pre-trial detention and has also cooperated with investigators in other European countries. His disclosures helped trigger scrutiny of Manchester City's finances, culminating in the club's finding of guilt over Premier League financial-rule breaches, which City denied and appealed. Pinto was also convicted in Portugal of attempted extortion, illegal access to data and breach of correspondence, receiving a suspended four-year sentence in September 2023.