German internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, who faces criminal charges in connection with the defunct file-sharing site Megaupload, will be extradited to the United States from New Zealand, New Zealand's justice minister announced Thursday. Reuters according to
The man, who was born in Germany but has Finnish citizenship through his mother and lives in New Zealand (original name Kim Schmitz), was hunted by US authorities in 2012, when the FBI shut down Megaupload servers and his villa near Auckland was raided by US security forces and local police.
As we wrote, in 2018, the New Zealand Court of Appeal had already upheld the previous ruling that would have allowed the man to be extradited to the United States, however, the New Zealand Justice Minister's decision was delayed, and the online entrepreneur's lawyer announced that they would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
These are the charges against him.
Kim Dotcom has been indicted on a total of 13 counts, including money laundering, fraud, and copyright infringement.
According to the FBI, Megaupload had at least $175 million in criminal proceeds and more than $500 million in copyright infringement. Dotcom could face up to twenty years in prison in the United States, but the internet entrepreneur has denied his guilt throughout, saying Megaupload is a great file-sharing site, but since it is used by fifty million people every day, he cannot be held responsible for all the content uploaded.
“I have carefully considered all the information and have decided to extradite Mr. Dotcom to the United States for prosecution,” New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith's spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.
Based on the information, the minister has already signed the extradition order for Kim Dotcom.
“In accordance with established practice, I have given Mr. Dotcom a short period of time to consider and seek advice on my decision. Therefore, at this stage, I will not be making any further comment on this matter.”
He described his country as an obedient American colony.
In his post on X on Tuesday, the tech entrepreneur said, referring to the extradition order and his country's leadership, that “the obedient American colony in the South Pacific has just decided to extradite me because of what users uploaded to Megaupload.”
The other three key figures in the company, German-born marketing director Finn Batatou and German technical director and co-founder Matthias Ortmann, as well as Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, were arrested with Dotcom in 2012. Ortmann and van der Kolk entered into a plea deal, which saw them sentenced to prison in New Zealand in 2023, though they could avoid extradition. Fin Batatou died in New Zealand in 2022.
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