Lisbon’s Benfica has joined the Public Prosecutor’s Office in filing an appeal against the first-instance court decision that acquitted hacker Rui Pinto of all charges in the Football Leaks case. The club, led by Rui Costa, seeks to overturn the ruling that cleared Pinto of 241 crimes, including unauthorized access to the club’s officials’ email accounts. The lower court had deemed the indictment invalid and unfounded. Pinto faced charges of qualified illegal access, aggravated correspondence violation, and computer damage, allegedly targeting emails and documents from Benfica, FC Porto, the Portuguese Football League, the Tax Authority, and the National Internal Security Network. In September 2023, he was sentenced to a suspended four-year prison term for similar offenses in a separate Football Leaks case. The appeal will be heard by the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
