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Kim Dotcom Loses US Extradition Case, Has One Appeal Process Left

Chances are high that Dotcom will be extradited to the US

Dec 23, 2015 13:49 GMT  ·  By
Kim Dotcom at his trial in New Zealand
   Kim Dotcom at his trial in New Zealand

A judge from New Zealand has ruled that US prosecutors have amassed enough evidence to have Kim Dotcom extradited to the US, where he's to face charges on multiple accusations relating to racketeering, money laundering, and copyright infringement.

Kim Dotcom's legal battles with the US started in 2012, when US police raided his home and seized assets and bank accounts related to his file-sharing website, Megaupload.

A three-year-old US-Dotcom legal battle comes closer to the end

Since then, the two parties have been involved in a legal battle that culminated yesterday, when, after a two-month-long hearing, a New Zealand judge decided that the US can apprehend Dotcom and have him tried in the US for all of the above charges.

All of these years, Dotcom has always said the following regarding the US trial and seizing of his assets: "I never lived there, I never traveled there, I had no company there. But all I worked for now belongs to the U.S."

According to US officials, Dotcom and his three acolytes, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk, and Finn Batato, knowingly ran a service that facilitated copyright infringement that caused estimated damages of around $500 million / €458 million to the rights holders.

Judge: large body of evidence points to criminal activity

Basically, because Megaupload's executive branch, represented by the four mentioned above, failed to heed copyright takedown notices and only took down a few of the complaints received from rights holders, the two acted in a criminal manner.

According to the judge, the US prosecutors provided a "large body of evidence" that the defendants did not undermine, so this deserved a proper trial in the US.

All four Megaupload defendants immediately filed an appeal at the New Zealand High Court. All four will also remain free on bail until the appeal concludes.

The entire case's details are available in a 271-page PDF file.