KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: The Football Leaks hacker Rui Pinto is back in Lisbon after having been flown from Budapest last night under an extradition order sought by the Portuguese judicial authorities.

He is expected to be brought before a judge for initial interview at the Justice Campus, in Parque das Nações.

Rui Pedro Goncalves Pinto was extradited under the terms of a European arrest warrant issued by the Central Department of Criminal Investigation and Action (DCIAP) over allegations laid initially by Sporting Clube and the Doyen Sports investment fund and then also by coach Jorge Jesus.

He was placed under house arrest in his adopted home of Budapest on January 16.

The 30-year-0ld is charged with six crimes including illegal access, breach of confidentiality and attempted extortion. He has denied all charges on the basis that he believes himself to be a whistleblower and not a criminal.

His ‘assistance’ is also being sought by at least nine countries over allegations emanating from his activities concerning tax evasion by clubs, agents and players and possible breaches of European federation UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Rui Pinto first came to the attention of the authorities seven years when he embezzled €270,000 from the accounts of clients of a Cayman Islands back. He negotiated his release by promising to return most of the money to the bank which did not want to bring charges to avoid publicity.

Subsequently he left Portugal for Hungary from where, by his own lawyers’ admission, he turned his hacking attentions to the world of football including Benfica, neighbours Sporting Clube and the Doyen football investment group.

A statement from Pinto’s lawyers ascribed to him revelations from the Football Leaks website which sparked inquiries by UEFA into the true financial status of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain in the context of the European federation’s financial fair play regulations.

Up to 70 million documents have been provided by Football Leaks and more than 3.4 terabytes of information shared by media outlets in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC).

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