The New Zealand justice system has ended a nearly 13-year legal battle, allowing Dotcom to face charges in the U.S.
Dotcom, founder of Megaupload and a symbol of online piracy in the early 2010s, is set to face justice in the U.S. According to Reuters, New Zealand’s Minister of Justice signed an extradition order on Thursday, closing a lengthy legal process that began almost 13 years ago and paving the way for Dotcom, who was born in Germany, to be tried by U.S. authorities.
“I have carefully reviewed all the information and decided that Dotcom should be handed over to the United States to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement. The decision was made more than six years after a New Zealand court ruled that Dotcom could be extradited, triggering a series of appeals that culminate in today’s decision.
Megaupload, the file-hosting site that once ranked as the 13th most popular site on the Internet, became a hub for content piracy. In early 2012, U.S. authorities charged Dotcom and six other sites with crimes such as racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering, and illegal distribution of copyrighted content. The U.S. indictment claimed that Megaupload had caused $500 million in damages to copyright holders, while the site had generated $175 million from advertising and premium subscriptions.
The raid on Dotcom’s mansion in Auckland was a dramatic episode during a relatively quiet year in 2012. As reported by The New York Times at the time, when Dotcom saw the police, he barricaded himself, activated several electronic locks, and took refuge in a safe room. When officers forced their way in, they found Dotcom standing near what they described as a sawed-off shotgun.
Dotcom, whose real name is Kim Schmitz, had already encountered legal troubles before this. In 1994, he claimed to have spent three months in a Munich jail for “hacking into Pentagon computers and observing real-time satellite images of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.” Shortly after, he received a suspended two-year prison sentence for a scam involving stolen phone card numbers.
In 2001, he was charged in the largest insider trading case in German history. Reportedly, he fled Germany to avoid the charges, was captured in Thailand, extradited (this isn’t his first time), and convicted in 2002. At some point after that, he moved to New Zealand and took refuge in a luxurious mansion.
You can see that mansion, along with a glimpse of his larger-than-life personality, in his music video “Good Life.”
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed the extradition order on Thursday and, following usual practice, granted Dotcom “a brief period to consider and receive advice” on this decision.
Dotcom, known for his bluntness, posted on X that “the obedient U.S. colony in the South Pacific has just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload.”
By: Nestor Castillo, ForAllTeachNews Director