“The truth is that crime, even with good intentions, does not pay. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't get involved in something like this again. My life has been turned upside down, my family has suffered a lot”.

Speaking to the panel of judges for the first time since the start of the trial, Rui Pinto acknowledged that “mistakes were made” in the Football Leaks project, although he emphasised the “great benefits” for society with the disclosure of “information that otherwise would not have been known.”

“Money was solving things and I was the only person who was deprived of liberty, I was deprived of liberty for a year and a half. There were several months in isolation, with only a weekly contact with family", he said, also mentioning the Luanda Leaks case: "It had a great national and international impact, but Isabel dos Santos continues to live her life peacefully in Dubai”.

The creator of the platform, which exposed many documents linked to Portuguese and international football clubs, also recalled his collaboration with the authorities, namely the French authorities, while criticising the main law firms, which he dubbed “architects of the largest security schemes, money laundering and tax fraud” and criticised the use of confidentiality between client and lawyer to protect the practice of crimes.

“I understand that I cannot change things, I cannot change the world. It has to be the authorities. Despite this, I did not stop trying to fight for transparency, even for collaboration with the authorities. The most decisive collaboration took place with the French authorities, who have consistently shown a great desire to count on my help”, he stressed.

Rui Pinto, 33, is charged with a total of 90 crimes: 68 of improper access, 14 of violation of correspondence, six of illegitimate access, targeting entities such as Sporting, Doyen, the PLMJ law firm, the Portuguese Federation of Football (FPF) and the Attorney General's Office (PGR), and also for computer sabotage of Sporting's SAD and for extortion, in the attempted form.