Do you still remember Kim Dotcom? He gained notoriiety when he founded Megaupload and became the face of early 2010s online piracy. He is reported to be headed to the US courts.
Reuters reports that New Zealand’s justice minister signed an extradition order recently to end the entrepreneur’s nearly 13-year legal battle, paving the way for the German-born Dotcom to face charges from the US government.
"I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr. Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial," Goldsmith said in a statement. The decision came more than six years after a New Zealand court ruled Dotcom could be extradited to the US, paving the way for appeals that culminated in today’s decision.
Once the 13th most visited site online, the file-hosting site Megaupload was a hotbed for pirated content. In early 2012, American authorities charged Dotcom and six others with racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and copyright distribution. The US indictment claimed Megaupload cost copyright holders US$ 500 million in damages while making US$ 175 million from ads and premium subscriptions.
The raid on Dotcom’s Auckland mansion was dramatic fare among 2012’s relatively tame headlines. The New York Times reported at the time that when he saw the police, Dotcom barricaded himself inside, activating several electronic locks and waited in a safe room. When officers cut their way inside, they saw Dotcom standing near "a firearm that they said looked like a sawed-off shotgun."
Dotcom flaunted his mansion — and a taste of his larger-than-life persona — in his music video "Good Life" below: