Dotcom faces extradition to US following ‘mixed bag ruling’
The fate of Kim Dotcom is uncertain after New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled that the FBI can extradite him to the US to face long-standing copyright charges, but that he also has the right to appeal the decision.
The controversial German internet entrepreneur founded file-sharing service Megaupload in 2005, which he once claimed was responsible for 4% of all internet traffic.
According to US authorities, the now-defunct website committed online piracy on a large scale, generating more than $175 million in revenue.
Dotcom has been battling extradition attempts ever since a US grand jury indicted him, alongside computer programmers Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, on charges of criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit racketeering, money laundering, and wire fraud in February 2012.
But Mr Dotcom's lawyers argue that the website was never meant to encourage copyright breaches.
New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, November 3, that Dotcom and his alleged co-conspirators were liable for extradition on 12 of the 13 counts the FBI is seeking to charge them with.
The charges upon which the group can be extradited for include: racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, five charges of wilful copyright infringement including by distributing a pre-release copy of the movie “Taken”, and five wire fraud counts. If Dotcom is extradited, he could face a lengthy jail term.
But the court also reversed a ruling by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand that denied Dotcom’s judicial review requests and held that he could pursue them.
In response to the ruling, Dotcom tweeted a statement from his lawyers which said: “For the Dotcom team, and especially for Kim and his family, it is a mixed bag.”
“There is no final determination that he is to go to the US. However, the court has not accepted our important copyright argument and in our view has made significant determinations that will have an immediate and chilling impact on the internet.”
In 2018, New Zealand’s Court of Appeal held that Dotcom and three co-defendants were eligible for extradition, rejecting Dotcom’s appeal against a lower court’s ruling that the extradition could take place.
In response to the decision, Dotcom tweeted: “A judgement in complete denial of the legislative history and intention of the Copyright Act. Therefore it has the value of toilet paper.”
In 2012, Dotcom was arrested when armed police raided his Auckland home, after which Dotcom sued for damages.
In March 2018, the Human Rights Review Tribunal in Wellington found that Dotcom’s privacy had been interfered with and that multiple government departments had failed to provide the information they held on Dotcom at his request.
The tribunal awarded Dotcom damages of NZ$60,000 (US$39,524) for loss of dignity and NZ$30,000 compensation. New Zealand’s attorney general filed an appeal against the ruling.
In October, however, the High Court upheld the appeal and overturned the finding of the tribunal.
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