Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload and the party-loving face of online piracy in the early 2010s, is finally heading to the US. Reuters information New Zealand's justice minister on Thursday signed an extradition order to end the businessman's nearly 13-year legal battle, clearing the way for German-born Dotcom to face charges charges from the United States government.
“I have considered all the information carefully and have decided that Dotcom should be surrendered to the United States to stand trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement. The decision came more than six years after a New Zealand court ruled that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States, paving the way for appeals that culminated in today's decision.
Once the 13th most visited site on the Internet, file-hosting site Megaupload became a hotbed of content piracy. In early 2012, US authorities charged Dotcom and six other sites with racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and copyright distribution. The US indictment claimed that Megaupload had caused copyright holders $500 million in damages, while earning $175 million from advertising and premium subscriptions.
The raid on Dotcom's Auckland mansion was a dramatic event amid the relatively quiet headlines of 2012. The New York Times technology/founder-of-shuttered-file-sharing-site-sought-limelight.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:reported;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:5;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>reported The moment he saw the police, Dotcom barricaded himself inside, activated several electronic locks and waited in a secure room. When officers forced their way inside, they saw Dotcom standing near “a firearm that they said looked like a sawed-off shotgun.”
Dotcom (whose real name was Kim Schmitz) had had several brushes with the law before that. He claimed to have spent at least three months in a Munich jail in 1994 for “hacking into Pentagon computers and watching real-time satellite photos of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.” Shortly afterward, he received a two-year suspended sentence for a scam involving stolen phone card numbers.
In 2001, he was indicted in the biggest insider trading case in German history. He reportedly fled Germany to escape those charges, was captured in Thailand, extradited (this week is not his first time) and convicted in 2002. Sometime after that, he moved to New Zealand and took refuge in a luxurious mansion.
You can see that mansion, and a glimpse of his larger-than-life personality, in his “Good Life” music video.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed the extradition order on Thursday, following standard practice of giving Dotcom “a short period of time to consider and receive advice” on his decision.
Dotcom, who never mince his words, x.com/KimDotcom/status/1823288089701421204″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:posted;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:6;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>aware a message on x that says “the obedient American colony in the South Pacific has just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload.”
