After over a decade, Kim Dotcom will be extradited from New Zealand back to the U.S. to face criminal charges related to his defunct file-sharing business, Megaupload.
Born Kim Schmitz, the German-born tech entrepreneur legally changed his last name to Dotcom in 2005, and founded Megaupload the same year. The business was successful for awhile but Dotcom ran into trouble after U.S. authorities deemed it a haven for web piracy and the trafficking of copyrighted material. Federal law enforcement officials have claimed that Dotcom and other Megaupload executives cost movie and music studios over $500 million by allowing their copyrighted material to be posted to the site. Meanwhile, the company apparently made tens of millions of dollars off the business. In 2012, officials seized Megaupload’s website and indicted company officials with copyright-related crimes.
Dotcom has lived in New Zealand since 2008 and has been fighting extradition to the U.S. since 2012, CNN reports. On Thursday, New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed a government order that allows for Dotcom’s extradition to the U.S. “I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial,” Goldsmith said. “As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will not, therefore, be commenting further at this stage.”
“Don’t worry I have a plan,” Dotcom tweeted ominously, including a winking emoji. Don’t do anything too crazy, Kim. It’s never too late to make your situation substantially worse. In another tweet this week, Dotcom referred to New Zealand as “the obedient US colony in the South Pacific” which he said had “just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload.”
In recent years, Dotcom has become a vocal critic of the U.S. and has been known to spread conspiracy theories (including Covid-related ones) and anti-government rhetoric on X. He recently went on The Alex Jones Show to discuss how the “world is on the brink of nuclear war.”
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