Football Leaks whistleblower fears for safety after losing fight against extradition to Portugal Rui Pinto, the source of the Football Leaks data, is to be extradited to Portugal His lawyers believes his data will be seized and destroyed in his homeland Pinto has said he fears for his personal safety back in his native country By Ian Herbert For Mailonline Published: 17:29 GMT, 14 March 2019 | Updated: 17:29 GMT, 14 March 2019 Viewcomments The source of the Football Leaks data which has embarrassed some of Europe's top clubs and sparked multiple investigations is to be extradited to Portugal, where his lawyers believes his data will be seized and destroyed. An appeal court in Budapest, Hungary, where Rui Pinto has been living for the past seven years, upheld a decision to send him to his native country – where his leaks have embarrassed Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. Pinto has said he fears for his personal safety in his native country, where he will stand trial on multiple-charges of unlawfully obtaining information and may be jailed. Rui Pinto, the source of the Football Leaks data, is to be extradited to Portugal An appeal court in Budapest, Hungary, upheld a decision to send him to his homeland Pinto's French lawyer, who represented whistle-blower Julian Assange, has insisted that the the 31-year-old deserves the same treatment as Assange, who founded WikiLeaks and published a series of leaks provided by Chelsea Manning, the former US soldier. But despite investigators in no fewer than four European countries currently seeking Pinto's information, the Portuguese demands to have Pinto delivered into their custody was granted. He is expected to be flown to Portugal on Monday. Pinto's Hungarian lawyer, Dr David Deak, told Sportsmail that Pinto – whose information has prompted an investigation into an American woman's allegations that she was raped by Cristiano Ronaldo – had been due to appear before a French court within two weeks, to provide data that is on one of his computer devices. The French courts have been informed of the extradition decision, in the hope that some sort of stay of the extradition might be agreed. The whistleblower has said that he fears for his personal safety in his native country This move seems unlikely to succeed, though Pinto would rather be held in a French prison, pending his court appearance, than extradited to Portugal, where his parents have faced death threats. The Belgian Prosecutors' Association have asked to be able to cite Pinto as a witness in a tax avoidance case. Similar requests have been made by a French state financial investigatory body, Munich's tax investigation office and Swiss investigators examining the relationship between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and a Swiss prosecutor, Rinaldo Arnold. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility