Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom to be extradited to US after losing 12-year legal fight
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Kim Dotcom, who founded the globally popular file-sharing site Megaupload, will be extradited to the US from New Zealand.
German-born Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, has been fighting extradition since 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion.
He is charged with copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering.
US authorities say Dotcom – born Kim Schmitz – and three other Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500m (£388m) by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material.
This generated more than $175m (£136m) in revenue for the now-defunct website, according to authorities.
In a post on social media website X, Dotcom said: “The obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload.”
He also shared a headline about the extradition, writing: “Oops, don’t worry, I have a plan.”
New Zealand’s justice minister Paul Goldsmith signed the extradition order for Dotcom.
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“I considered all of the information carefully and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial,” Mr Goldsmith said in a statement.
“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.”
Megaupload’s chief marketing officer Finn Batato, co-founder Mathias Ortmann and executive Bram van der Kolk were arrested with Dotcom in 2012.
Ortmann and van der Kolk entered plea deals that saw them sentenced in 2023 to jail terms in New Zealand but allowed them to avoid extradition. Batato died in 2022 in New Zealand.
