According to the ruling, to which the Lusa agency had access, Rui Pinto, who like the other accused in the case, lawyer Aníbal Pinto, had filed an appeal with the higher court, had his conviction confirmed for the crimes of attempted extortion, violation of illegitimate correspondence and access.

The TRL judges also decided to annul the compensation of a total of 5,500 euros that the two defendants had been ordered to pay to Doyen Sports Investments (3,000 for Rui Pinto and 2,500 for Aníbal Pinto) and ordered the return to Rui Pinto of various electronic devices, namely cell phones.

According to the ruling, it was determined to “absolve the defendants (…) from paying any compensation to Doyen Sports Investments”, due to a “change in the matter of fact proven in the judgment under appeal”.

Rui Pinto, aged 34, was accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of 90 crimes: 68 of improper access, 14 of violation of correspondence, and 6 of illegitimate access targeting entities such as Sporting, Doyen, law firm PLMJ, Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and the Attorney General's Office (PGR), and also for computer sabotage of Sporting's SAD and for extortion, in the attempted form. This last crime concerns Doyen and was what also led to the indictment of lawyer Aníbal Pinto.

On September 11, 2023, Rui Pinto was sentenced to four years in prison, with a suspended sentence, in a trial that resulted in his conviction for nine crimes and an amnesty for 79, in addition to the acquittal of the others. The partial sentences applied for each crime reached a total of 10 years and 9 months but resulted in a single prison sentence of four years, suspended upon execution.

The main accused in the case was convicted of committing one crime of extortion in the form of attempted to Doyen (two years in prison), three of aggravated correspondence violations to lawyers João Medeiros, Rui Costa Pereira and Inês Almeida Costa (total of one year and nine months) and five of illegitimate access to Doyen, Sporting, the Portuguese Football Federation, the PLMJ law firm and the Attorney General's Office (partial sentences totalling seven years in prison), the remainder falling due to the application of the amnesty law approved as part of the Pope's visit to Portugal and due to lack of evidence.

Rui Pinto was also ordered to pay compensation totalling 22,078 euros, an amount now reduced with the withdrawal of 3,000 euros from Doyen, with lawyer João Medeiros being the recipient of 15 thousand euros, following the publication of his email box on the blog Mercado de Benfica, in addition to 2,039 euros, respectively, to lawyers Rui Costa Pereira and Inês Almeida Costa.

Aníbal Pinto, on the other hand, was convicted as co-author of the only crime he was accused of: attempted extortion, which earned him a two-year prison sentence with a suspended sentence, with the court understanding that they sought to obtain “illicit enrichment” at the expense of investment fund.

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