The penalty imposed by the European Football Association (UEFA) on Manchester City has shed the spotlight on a young man who is currently in prison who was the first source of information that led to an investigation that ended with the imposition of sanctions on the English club.
The soccer world was shaken by the leaks of the Football League website, which were published in 2015, and revealed major abuses by players and officials of several major clubs.
The violations revealed by the site included issues related to tax evasion and circumvention of the laws of fair financial play.
Behind the Portuguese site, Roy Pinto, 31, has been in prison since last March, awaiting trial and the dismissal of 147 charges against him.
Media reports said that Pinto obtained 70 million documents and 3.4 terabytes of data, including personal emails.
Among the leaks that Pinto published were information he obtained from the Manchester City club email penetration, which showed financial irregularities and circumvented the fair play financial laws.
This information prompted the European Union to launch an investigation that lasted for months and ended on Friday, depriving Manchester City of participating in continental tournaments for two years with a fine of 30 million euros.
Twitter users started a campaign to demand the release of Pinto after making sure that the information he published that led to the punishment of Manchester City was correct.