Hacker who leaked papers that brought richest woman in Africa in tight shoes

A Portuguese hacker claims to have leaked the hundreds of thousands of confidential documents that discredited Isabel dos Santos – the richest woman in Africa. The documents give a not so fresh picture of how the daughter of the former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos expanded her gigantic business empire, which is estimated at 2 billion dollars.

It was the lawyers of hacker Rui Pinto (31) who sent the news into the world on Monday. Pinto had been in the news before because he was also behind ‘Football Leaks’, releasing 70 million documents that shed light on the actions of some football clubs.

Empire

Luanda Leaks was big international news last week after the documents surrounding the Dos Santos empire were scoured by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Journalists from 20 countries.

Rui Pinto is currently being accused of 93 crimes in Portugal, mainly because he obtained unauthorized access to data and attempted extortion. He is in jail awaiting trial. It is not clear how the disclosure that he is also behind Luanda Leaks will have an impact on the procedure.

According to his lawyers, Pinto acted only in the interests of the general public. “Without the leak, the police and the judiciary would have done nothing,” it sounds. “Thanks to our client, the world has access to the truth and an exceptional system of corruption has been uncovered.”

Isabel Dos Santos herself has repeatedly denied that she did anything wrong. Last week, however, she was formally charged with fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. This was reported by the Attorney General of Angola at the time.