Email trails, allegations and investigations going back years could end up in Court of Arbitration for Sport

What has happened to Rui Pinto, the bedroom internet hacker behind the Football Leaks scandal?

Pinto, who allegedly amassed 70 million documents from personal email accounts from the likes of Manchester City and Paris St-Germain, is awaiting trial in Lisbon, having failed to get his case thrown out.

Portuguese authorities arrested the 31-year-old Portuguese national in Budapest in January last year and extradited him to Lisbon in March. The national prosecutor initially accused Pinto of 147 criminal offences, including attempted extortion and breach of postal secrecy laws. Despite an online campaign for his release, judges at the Lisbon Court of Appeal ruled earlier his case against the charges was “unfounded”. He now stands to answer more than 90 charges, relating to hacking, sabotage and extortion.

What did he uncover about City which angered Uefa?

Pinto’s dossier on City became a central theme in the Football Leaks scandal published by Der

Spiegel magazine in Germany in November 2018, in which it reported allegations that City and Paris St-Germain breached FFP rules by

€188 million (£156 million) and €215million respectively in 2014.

However, senior Uefa officials – who launched sanctions against City in 2014 – took exception to leaked files from 2015, about a payment of £59.5 million supposed to have come from City’s principal sponsor, Etihad Airways. The file claimed, instead, that the sum was paid directly to the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group. Der Spiegel also alleged that City set up a secret scheme called “Project Longbow”, which effectively hid about £40million in payments to players, after the club had agreed a €20million fine as a settlement for FFP breaches.

Emails published from 2010 from board member Simon Pearce show him allegedly communicating with colleagues about a £15million deal with partner Aabar. “As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is £3million,” he allegedly wrote. “The remaining £12million will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness [Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan].”

In another message, City’s chief financial officer, Jorge Chumillas, allegedly wrote that the club faced a

£9.9 million shortfall to comply with FFP because of the contract termination of Roberto Mancini.

What was the precedent for clubs facing sanctions over financial deceptions?

City’s two-year ban is much longer than any punishment handed out in Europe before. FFP sanctions were first applied in September 2012, ranging from withholding of prize money to fines and bans from European competition. Queens Park Rangers were fined £17million for breaking spending limits on their way to promotion to the Premier League in 2014. Appeals are common. The Court of Arbitration for Sport did uphold a Europa League ban for Turkish club Bursaspor in 2015. But two seasons ago, AC Milan’s ban from the Europa League for breaching FFP and licensing regulations was overturned in a ruling that claimed Uefa’s adjudicatory chamber had not properly assessed some “important elements”.

How much could this cost City?

Potentially in excess of £500 million. As well as a costly appeal process, missing out on Champions League football will cause a big hit to the club’s coffers. They also remain under separate investigations over their finances and transfer dealings by Fifa, the Football Association and the Premier League. City deny any wrongdoing and say they were “disappointed but not surprised” by Uefa’s punishment after a “flawed and consistently leaked process” and will appeal.