Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand to US

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Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom is set to be extradited from New Zealand to the US to face criminal charges related to defunct file-sharing website Megaupload after losing a 12-year legal battle.

New Zealand’s Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said on Friday that he had signed orders to extradite the internet mogul to the US.

The decision could mark the end of a nearly 12-year legal tussle with New Zealand authorities after US authorities shut down Mr Dotcom’s Megaupload website and charged him with conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering, along with three others.

German Mr Dotcom, whose birth name is Kim Schmitz, was arrested after a dramatic raid by New Zealand officials at his Auckland mansion in 2012 along with three others. The raid was carried out at the request of the FBI.

Prosecutors said his website Megaupload collected at least $175m (£136m) – mainly from people who used the site to illegally download songs, TV shows and movies – before the FBI shut it down earlier that year.

However, he has described himself as an “internet freedom fighter” and claims he had no control over what users uploaded to the website.

New Zealand’s justice minister said Mr Dotcom should be handed over to the US to stand trial, but did not set a date for his extradition.

“I have carefully considered all the information and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be handed over to the US to stand trial,” Mr Goldsmith said.

“As is usual practice, I have allowed Mr. Dotcom a short time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will therefore not comment at this stage.”

Reacting to the news, Mr Dotcom said: “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan,” along with a winking emoji, adding: “I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving.”

In comments to the New Zealand Herald, he said he had “received extensive advice” from government officials.

Mr. Dotcom faces a maximum prison sentence of 55 years if convicted on all counts, according to the Department of Justice.

A member of his legal team, Ira Rothken, said: “Our legal team is working on a judicial review in the High Court for Kim Dotcom in New Zealand. The fight for justice continues. The world is watching.”

Mr Dotcom, 50, founded the website in 2005, which became hugely popular in the US. At its peak, the website was the 13th most popular in the world, accounting for 4 percent of all online traffic.

He lived in a hotel in Hong Kong before he got the New Zealand regime in 2010. Two years later he was arrested but was released on bail. The website generated millions of dollars in revenue, causing an estimated $500 million in damages to copyright holders after copyrighted material was illegally shared on it.

He has since started a political party and another file-sharing website called Mega, in addition to fighting US prosecutors’ attempts to extradite him.

However, in 2021 New Zealand’s High Court ruled that Mr Dotcom and two other men could be extradited.

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 prison. The US dropped efforts to extradite her in exchange for the guilty plea.

Prosecutors had previously abandoned their extradition bid against a fourth company officer, Finn Batato, who was arrested in New Zealand. He went to Germany, where he died of cancer in 2022.