Extradited Football Leaks hacker heads back to Portugal

Rui Pinto, the hacker linked to the Football Leaks whistleblower website, was en route to Lisbon on Thursday after his extradition from Hungary, Portuguese officials said.

“His arrival is scheduled today late afternoon,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

Pinto, who is Portuguese, was involved with a series of leaks that exposed murky dealings across European football.

The Portuguese prosecutor has charged Pinto with “aggravated attempted extortion” and data theft. He is accused of stealing data, including from the Portuguese state, and of having attempted to blackmail sports agency, Doyen, before making his revelations.

The 30-year-old believes his home nation wants to “sabotage” investigations he is assisting in various European countries.

“I was collaborating with the French authorities, starting a collaboration with Swiss authorities and probably to start another European collaboration, and suddenly Portugal sabotaged everything,” he said.

Pinto had been living in Budapest since 2015 and tried to fight his extradition.

He could face 10 years in prison.