Man City's UEFA Ban Appeal Could Drag Liverpool 'Into the Dock' Over 2013 Hacking Scandal

Liverpool could be vulnerable to retrospective punishment from UEFA, should new information regarding their 2013 hacking controversy come to light in Manchester City's European ban appeal, according to one report.

City are in the process of lawyering up to appeal the punishment imposed on them by UEFA after being found guilty of financial misconduct. As it stands, they are to be banned from European competition for two seasons and hit with a £25m fine, but they reject the allegations and are expected to fight the charge all the way in court.

But how could that implicate Liverpool? Well, bare with as we break down some context, courtesy of The Mirror.

Manchester City's bid to overturn their European ban could end with Liverpool in the dock over allegations that they hacked into the Etihad’s scouting database.

City will “leave nothing off the table” when they attempt to beat the sanction.

[@MullockSMirror]
— Man City Xtra (@City_Xtra) February 22, 2020

In their appeal, City are expected to argue that UEFA's guilty verdict is based on illegally obtained emails from club officials leaked to them. Those are thought to have been obtained by student Rui Pinto, who is currently awaiting trial in Portugal, and is said to have hacked into the club's server in 2015, leading to the release of the information which eventually reached UEFA.

Now, questions into how Pinto was able to break through City's security systems are likely to lead back to City's decision to step up their security...as a result of accusations that Liverpool scouts had managed to similarly hack into their system while they were challenging for the Premier League title in 2013.

That matter was settled with a £1m compensation payout from the Reds, with both parties signing a non-disclosure agreement. When the matter resurfaced in September, the case was thrown out by the FA owing to the time that had passed since the alleged incidents, with the caveat they could reopen investigations should new information come to light.

As a result of the NDA, neither City or Liverpool are permitted to discuss the matter publicly, but as part of their appeal, City will be able to present evidence which implicates Liverpool provided it is relevant to their case.

The idea that as part of a carpet bombing legal strategy that City will try and unwind its settlement with Liverpool on hacking is fanciful nonsense. 1) it was no big deal - hence a £1m settlement 2) it was SETTLED 3) its irrelevant 4) Pannick et al run STRONG arguments only
— slbsn (@slbsn) February 23, 2020

Should any damning new claims come to light, then Liverpool may well find themselves, as the Mirror's report puts it: 'in the dock'.

The Mirror report City are promising to 'leave nothing off the table' in their bid to get the ban overturned, but it is unclear what they may present which could relate to the Liverpool case.

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Source : 90min