Kim Dotcom, the founder of the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload and crypto platform BitCache, plans to fight an order to extradite him to the United States to answer for criminal charges.
In a post on X on Aug. 15, the German-Finnish internet entrepreneur and political activist said, “I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving,” and later reposted a message from his legal team, suggesting he plans to fight extradition.
On Aug. 15, New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges in the US relating to the defunct file-sharing website, which US authorities claim cost movie and music studios more than $500 million by allowing copyrighted material to be posted and shared.
“I considered all of the information carefully and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement.
Dotcom slammed his adopted home country, New Zealand, in another post, referring to it as an “obedient US colony.”
“The obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload, unsolicited, and what copyright holders were able to remove with direct delete access instantly and without question,”
Tech attorney Ira Rothken, one of Dotcom’s lawyers, stated in a post on X on Aug. 15 that his legal team is working on judicial review to the High Court for Dotcom in New Zealand.
He added a list of “injustices,” including illegal government raids on the family home, illegal spying, withholding and destruction of evidence, blocking of legal funding by the US, and the impossibility of a fair trial in the US.
In a post on X on Aug. 16, Dotcom wrote a brief explanation of why the US government has been trying to extradite him for the past twelve years.
“It all started because I became a large donor to Wikileaks after Julian [Assange] revealed US war crimes with the collateral murder video. And the moment I got out on bail I created Mega and sent the first $100k I made to Wikileaks. I would do it all over again. Fuck the criminal US Govt.”
Related: Kim Dotcom Faces US Extradition Despite Copyright Victory
Born Kim Schmitz, the German-born tech entrepreneur legally changed his last name to Dotcom in 2005 and founded the file-sharing site Megaupload the same year.
The digital rights activist is also pro-crypto, predicting a Bitcoin boom in 2018 and putting his weight behind Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in 2020 when he claimed it was “great for payments,” predicting a $3,000 price the following year.
Dotcom also founded the crypto startup Bitcache, which was a filesharing and micropayments platform. However, it never officially launched and went into liquidation in 2023 due to unpaid legal fees.
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