- With regard to his file-sharing service Megaupload, which let users distribute music and movies illegally, Kim Dotcom is being prosecuted on a number of counts.
Following a battle with American authorities spanning more than ten years, Bitcache founder Kim Dotcom—who is facing numerous charges related to his contentious file-sharing website Megaupload—will be extradited to the United States. Dotcom asserts that he has a strategy to get around the move, though.
After a 12-year legal struggle to extradite Dotcom to the United States, New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for him, according to Reuters on Thursday, citing the Minister’s spokesman.
In a statement obtained by Reuters, Goldsmith stated, “I carefully considered all of the information and have decided that Mr. Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. will be tried.” According to the publication, he declined to offer any more insights on the matter.
In 2012, the German-born Dotcom was taken into custody in New Zealand on suspicion of illicit acts connected to his since-closed file-sharing platform, Megaupload. The 50-year-old also started Bitcache, a blockchain-based micropayments startup that was forced to dissolve over a year ago because of unpaid debt.
U.S. prosecutors claim that Dotcom and his accomplices made at least $175 million in revenue by encouraging Megaupload users to share unlawful copies of various property, including movies, TV episodes, and music. In January 2012, the Justice Department shut down Megaupload while they were getting ready to file charges against the website’s operators.
An indictment from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia lists Dotcom on two counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count each of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to engage in a conspiracy to violate copyright and engage in racketeering.
Dotcom could receive a prison term of up to more than 50 years if found guilty.
Dotcom, nevertheless, voiced skepticism on Thursday on the possibility of his extradition to the United States. He alluded to the fact that he will keep resisting increasing legal pressure to leave his chosen country of New Zealand, where he was granted residency in 2010, in two social media posts.
I adore New Zealand. The cryptocurrency inventor declared on Thursday, “I’m not leaving,” in a message on Twitter (also known as X), a few hours after he was expected to be extradited to the United States.
The specifics of Dotcom’s strategy are not yet apparent. When Decrypt reached out to Dotcom for comment on the issue, Dotcom did not answer right away.
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