Kim Dotcom, the founder of the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload who has been facing criminal charges in the US, will be expelled from New Zealand to the United States, Reuters reports, citing New Zealand justice minister.
Dotcom, a German citizen with New Zealand residency, has been fighting deportation since 2012, when an FBI raid on his Auckland mansion initiated the legal battle.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, a spokesperson for the Minister of Justice said.
“I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial… 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,” Goldsmith said in a statement.
In a post on social media website X on Tuesday, Dotcom said, “the obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload”, in what appears to be a reference to the extradition order.
According to US officials, Dotcom and three other Megaupload key figures caused over $500 million in losses to film studios and record companies by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted content. This activity generated over $175 million in revenue for Megaupload, the US claims.
In 2012, Dotcom was arrested with three other Megaupload executives – Finn Batato (Chief Marketing Officer), Mathias Ortmann (Chief Technical Officer and co-founder), and Bram van der Kolk (a Dutch national). Ortmann and van der Kolk eventually reached plea deals in 2023, receiving jail terms in New Zealand but avoiding extradition. Batato passed away in New Zealand two years ago.
