Pinto is the Portuguese whistleblower behind Football Leaks, which exposed more than 70M confidential documents relating to football clubs, players and organisations.
The documents he leaked helped trigger investigations into City's finances by UEFA and the Premier League. These investigations led to City being found guilty of financial inflation of over £900M through sham contracts from 2009 to 2018.
City have appealed the decision, and a potential punishment may come in January if their appeal is unsuccessful.
Pinto, who became part of Portugal's witness protection programme in 2020 after agreeing to co-operate with authorities and provide information obtained through the Football Leaks operation, lost his place in witness protection after the City drama came out.
This came after Portuguese authorities informed him that his witness protection would end, stating a risk assessment that reportedly considered the threat to him low. His lawyers argued the decision, emphasising death threats and an assault in Lisbon in April.
Pinto has said he is willing to cooperate with British authorities and provide further documents, potentially relevant to ongoing investigations, and for now he is back under witness protection.
During the chaos, Pinto set up a GoFundMe requesting €3M after the Portuguese state “knowingly decided to put my life at risk”.
“I have no alternative but to relocate, within the next few days, to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period of time, due to the multiple death threats I have received and the serious risk of an assassination attempt against me,” he said.