The FT reported on October 7, 2026 that HMRC investigated Manchester City in 2018 over whether the club used complex arrangements to underpay taxes, a probe prompted by Der Spiegel's leaked internal emails. Those emails also led to a Premier League investigation; an independent commission found the club artificially inflated its financial position by more than £900 million between 2009 and 2018 through sham commercial deals, upholding 114 of the 115 charges. Reporting since has traced the leak's origin to a 2018 phishing email sent to a club official by Rui Pinto posing as UEFA. Manchester City denies the findings and has appealed.