“I was looking for elements that altered the sporting truth. They were of public interest, there’s no question about that,” emphasized Francisco J. Marques, who served as the communications director at FC Porto from 2016 to 2024.
In a new session at the Lisbon Central Criminal Court, Francisco J. Marques gave testimony via WhatsApp, remotely addressing several questions about the process and stating he had received around 20 gigabytes (GB) of information.
“It is humanly impossible to analyze 20GB of information. I was interested in the information, not who sent it. The person preferred to remain anonymous, and as a journalist, I accepted that. It was very easy to confirm its reliability,” he noted.
Francisco J. Marques was a part of the panel for “Universo Porto da Bancada,” a Porto Canal program on sports current events defending FC Porto, as the former ‘dragons’ official mentioned, where confidential information related to rival Benfica was revealed through emails.
“I committed to delivering everything I had to the Judicial Police [PJ]. I would alert the police when I received more things,” he continued, adding, “I did not receive mailboxes of Luís Filipe Vieira and Domingos Soares de Oliveira, just isolated emails.”
Rui Pinto is on trial for a total of 241 crimes: 201 counts of qualified unlawful access, 22 of aggravated breach of correspondence, and 18 of computer damage.
Beyond Benfica, the figures and institutions affected also include other clubs, the Portuguese Professional Football League, companies, law firms, judges, prosecutors, the Tax Authority, and the National Internal Security Network.
The creator of Football Leaks was brought to trial last March, with the Central Criminal Investigation Court granting him amnesty for 134 counts of breach of correspondence, based on the law of amnesty approved in 2023 during the World Youth Day, as the alleged crimes were committed before he turned 30.
Rui Pinto was convicted in the ‘Football Leaks’ case in September 2023 by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court to four years in prison, suspended, for attempted extortion, aggravated breach of correspondence, and unlawful access.
In November 2023, he was also sentenced to six months in prison in France, again suspended, for illegally accessing emails from Paris Saint-Germain.
