Current:Home > StocksKim Dotcom loses 12-year fight to halt deportation from New Zealand to face US copyright case -Visionary Wealth Guides
Kim Dotcom loses 12-year fight to halt deportation from New Zealand to face US copyright case
Rekubit Exchange View
Date:2025-04-09 13:45:58
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Kim Dotcom, founder of the once wildly popular file-sharing website Megaupload, lost a 12-year fight this week to halt his deportation from New Zealand to the U.S. on charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering.
New Zealand’s Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith divulged Friday that he had decided Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial, capping — for now — a drawn-out legal fight. A date for the extradition was not set, and Goldsmith said Dotcom would be allowed “a short period of time to consider and take advice” on the decision.
“Don’t worry I have a plan,” Dotcom posted on X this week. He did not elaborate, although a member of his legal team, Ira Rothken, wrote on the site that a bid for a judicial review — in which a New Zealand judge would be asked to evaluate Goldsmith’s decision — was being prepared.
The saga stretches to the 2012 arrest of Dotcom in a dramatic raid on his Auckland mansion, along with other company officers. Prosecutors said Megaupload raked in at least $175 million — mainly from people who used the site to illegally download songs, television shows and movies — before the FBI shut it down earlier that year.
Lawyers for the Finnish-German millionaire and the others arrested had argued that it was the users of the site, founded in 2005, who chose to pirate material, not its founders. But prosecutors argued the men were the architects of a vast criminal enterprise, with the Department of Justice describing it as the largest criminal copyright case in U.S. history.
The men fought the order for years — lambasting the investigation and arrests — but in 2021 New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled that Dotcom and two other men could be extradited. It remained up to the country’s Justice Minister to decide if the extradition should proceed.
Three of Goldsmith’s predecessors did not announce a decision. Goldsmith was appointed justice minister in November after New Zealand’s government changed in an election.
“I have received extensive advice from the Ministry of Justice on this matter” and considered all information carefully, Goldsmith said in his statement.
“I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving,” German-born Dotcom wrote on X Thursday. He did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Two of his former business partners, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, pleaded guilty to charges against them in a New Zealand court in June 2023 and were sentenced to two and a half years in jail. In exchange, U.S. efforts to extradite them were dropped.
Prosecutors had earlier abandoned their extradition bid against a fourth officer of the company, Finn Batato, who was arrested in New Zealand. Batato returned to Germany where he died from cancer in 2022.
In 2015, Megaupload computer programmer Andrus Nomm, of Estonia, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit felony copyright infringement and was sentenced to one year and one day in U.S. federal prison.
veryGood! (21)
Related
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- Proof Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Are Closer Than Ever After Kansas City Chiefs Win
- Utah woman killed her 3 children, herself in vehicle, officials say
- Report: Connor Stalions becomes interim football coach at a Detroit high school
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- You’ll Want to Add These 2024 Fall Book Releases to Your TBR Pile
- Woman who fell trying to escape supermarket shooting prayed as people rushed past to escape
- 15-year-old detained in Georgia for threats about 'finishing the job' after school shooting
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Dolphins All-Pro CB Jalen Ramsey gets 3-year extension worth $24.1 million per year, AP source says
Ranking
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- Dating apps are tough. Is there a better way to find a match today? | The Excerpt
- Kourtney Kardashian Shares Sweet Family Photos of Sons Rocky and Reign
- S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq post largest weekly percentage loss in years after weak jobs data
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Jessica Pegula will meet Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open women’s final Saturday
- Noah Cyrus Channels Sister Miley Cyrus With Must-See New Look
- Which late-night talk show is the last to drop a fifth night?
Recommendation
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
A new tarantula species is discovered in Arizona: What to know about the creepy crawler
Police say the gunman killed in Munich had fired at the Israeli Consulate
Abortion rights supporters in South Dakota blast state’s video of abortion laws
'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
Half of Southern California home on sale for 'half a million' after being hit by pine tree
Sports betting firm bet365 fined $33K for taking bets after outcomes were known
Why Ben Affleck Is Skipping Premiere for His and Jennifer Lopez’s Movie Amid Divorce