Kim Dotcom, a German-Finnish entrepreneur and the founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload, known for his conspiracy theories and anti-US propaganda, will be extradited to the United States from New Zealand after more than 11 years of avoiding justice – this is reported by Reuters.
This announcement was made on Thursday by New Zealand’s Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith, who signed the extradition order for Dotcom according to a spokesperson for the Minister of Justice.
“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.
“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.”
The file-sharing service Megaupload, founded by Kim Dotcom, operated from 2005 to 2012. At its peak, the site was one of the most visited in the world.
The US government claims that Megaupload’s activities caused a $500 million loss to film studios and record companies, as Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives encouraged users with paid subscriptions to share copyrighted films and music on the platform. This generated over $175 million in revenue for the website.
Kim Dotcom repeatedly mentioned that ‘the US is failing everywhere,’ and “Russia dominates Ukraine and NATO.” It is worth noting that he has numerous charges: money laundering, fraud, and numerous copyright violations. All this led to his bankruptcy, from which he still has not been able to get out. This formed him into a person who “advocates for freedom on the Internet” and “opposes the global domination of the United States”, which contributed to his rapprochement with the Kremlin and its narratives.
Kim Dotcom reacted to the New Zealand decision and wrote that ‘the obedient American colony in the South Pacific has just decided to extradite me for what users have uploaded to Megaupload’.
