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Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
-
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
Internet
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and political activist who resides in
Glenorchy, New Zealand Glenorchy is a small settlement at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu in the South Island region of Otago, New Zealand. It is approximately by road or boat from Queenstown, the nearest large town. There are two pubs, a café and a range of sma ...
. He first rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as an Internet entrepreneur and was
convicted In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of " not proven", which is co ...
on charges of
computer fraud Computer fraud is a cybercrime and the act of using a computer to take or alter electronic data, or to gain unlawful use of a computer or system. In the United States, computer fraud is specifically proscribed by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, ...
in 1994. Dotcom is the founder and former
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the now-defunct
file hosting service A file-hosting service, cloud-storage service, online file-storage provider, or cyberlocker is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. It allows users to upload files that could be accessed over the internet afte ...
Megaupload (2005–2012). p29. The company was financially successful, but in 2012, the United States Department of Justice seized its website and pressed charges against Dotcom, including criminal
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...
,
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...
,
racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...
and
wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity ...
. Dotcom was residing in New Zealand at the time; at the request of US authorities, New Zealand police raided his home in 2012 and arrested him. Dotcom posted
bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...
and has been going through legal proceedings ever since to avoid extradition to the United States. In 2017, a New Zealand court ruled that Dotcom, as well as co-accused Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Carter Edwards, could be extradited to the US on fraud charges related to Megaupload. Dotcom denies any wrongdoing and has accused US authorities of pursuing a vendetta against him on behalf of politically influential Hollywood studios. In 2018, the
New Zealand Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather ...
upheld the lower court's ruling. Dotcom appealed to the
Supreme Court of New Zealand The Supreme Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Mana Nui, lit=Court of Great Mana) is the highest court and the court of last resort of New Zealand. It formally came into being on 1 January 2004 and sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It re ...
, which ruled in 2020 that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States, but that he and three co-defendants were entitled to challenge the decision through a judicial review. In 2013, Dotcom launched another
cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, said to be on "the cloud". The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations), and the physical environment is ty ...
service called
Mega Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...
, although he severed all ties with the service in 2015. He also started and funded the Internet Party. The party contested the
2014 New Zealand general election The 2014 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 20 September 2014 to determine the membership of the 51st New Zealand Parliament. Voters elected 121 members to the House of Representatives, with 71 from single-member electorates ( ...
under an electoral alliance with the
Mana Movement The Mana Movement, formerly known as the Mana Party, is a former political party in New Zealand. The party was led by Hone Harawira who formed it in April 2011 following his resignation from the Māori Party. Harawira won the by-election in Te T ...
and contested the 2017 general election independently, but failed to win any seats at either election.


Early life

Dotcom was born Kim Schmitz in 1974 in
Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
in the north of Germany in what was then politically
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
. His mother was Finnish, from
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
, so he holds a Finnish passport and has siblings in Finland. His father was German. He legally changed his surname to Dotcom in 2005.Inside the lavish life of Web's Mr. Dotcom
''The Wall Street Journal''. 21 January 2012.
Prior to his arrest in New Zealand, he enjoyed a luxurious life. In 2001, his main source of income was a company called Kimvestor, and he was known for spending his money on expensive cars and boats. During the 2000 Monaco Formula One Grand Prix, Dotcom chartered a yacht and used it to host parties for guests such as Prince Rainier of Monaco. He was granted permanent residence in New Zealand on 29 November 2010. While his residency was under consideration, Dotcom was planning a fireworks show in
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
at a cost of NZ$600,000. He leased a mansion in Coatesville, a rural community near Auckland, owned by entrepreneurs Richard and Ruth Bradley, and considered one of the most expensive homes in the country. He wanted to buy the mansion when the lease expired. Before his arrest in New Zealand, he was the world's number-one-ranked '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' player out of more than 15 million online players.


Personal life

In 2007, Dotcom met Mona Verga, whom he described as his "soulmate" and the "love of his life", and married her on 10 July 2009. He became the father of twin girls (his fourth and fifth child) when Verga gave birth in Auckland in March 2012, a month after he was released on bail from Mt Eden prison. On 17 May 2014, Dotcom announced on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that he was separated from his wife Mona and was filing for divorce. Four days earlier, Mona had left her directorship positions in the Dotcom family's companies. In November 2017, Dotcom announced he would marry his fiancée, Elizabeth Donnelly, on 20 January 2018; the anniversary of the raid during which he was arrested. They had been dating for two years and in 2017 moved to Queenstown to live.Kim Dotcom and Elizabeth Donnelly to wed on raid anniversary
''NZ Herald''. 5 November 2017


Legal investigations


Germany

As a teenager, Schmitz acquired a reputation in his native Germany after saying that he had bypassed the security of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
,
the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
and
Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
under the name of Kimble, derived from Richard Kimble, a character in the 1963 TV series '' The Fugitive''. He also stated that he had hacked corporate PBX systems in the United States and said he was selling the access codes.Michael Courtenay
Megalife of Kim Dotcom
/ref> Schmitz operated a
bulletin board system A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such ...
called "House of Coolness" where users would trade pirated software; around 1993 Schmitz was reportedly targeted by German anti-piracy lawyer Günter von Gravenreuth and has become a paid informant. Schmitz was arrested in March 1994 for selling stolen phone numbers and held in custody for a month. He was arrested again on more hacking charges and convicted of 11 counts of computer fraud and 10 counts of data espionage. As he was a minor, he was given a two-year
suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
; the judge of the case described Schmitz's actions as "youthful foolishness".Austin Carr
Inside Megaupload's Megamind: Kim Dotcom's Playboy Bunnies, Russian Nuclear Vessels, And Private War On Terror
20 January 2012
In 2001, Schmitz bought €375,000 worth of shares of the nearly bankrupt company and subsequently announced his intention to invest €50 million in the company.
, ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' 5/2002, 28 January 2002
The announcement caused the share value of Letsbuyit.com to jump, resulting in a €1.5 million profit for Schmitz.


Thailand

Dotcom moved to
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
to avoid investigation, but was arrested there at the request of the German embassy. In response, he allegedly pretended to kill himself online and declared through his website that he wished to be known as "His Royal Highness King Kimble the First, Ruler of the Kimpire". He was deported back to Germany where he pleaded guilty to
embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
in November 2003 and, after five months in jail awaiting trial, again received a
suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
, this time of 20 months. After avoiding a prison sentence for a second time, he left Germany and moved to Hong Kong in late 2003.


Hong Kong

Dotcom found Hong Kong to his liking and registered Kimpire Limited in December 2003, soon after moving there. He set up a network of interlinked companies, including Trendax, which he said was an artificial intelligence-driven hedge fund. However, Trendax was never registered with Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission and the company was legally not allowed to accept investments or to conduct trades. After moving to New Zealand, Dotcom didn't disclose his investment activity to the Securities and Futures Commission and was fined HK$8,000.


Move to New Zealand

Dotcom visited New Zealand for 10 days in December 2008 and again for two months in 2009.Secrecy over Dotcom's residency application
''The New Zealand Herald'', 9 March 2012
He applied for residency and received it in November 2010.
Immigration New Zealand Immigration New Zealand ( mi, Te Ratonga Manene; INZ), formerly the New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS), is the agency within the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) that is responsible for border control, iss ...
made its decision on his application, despite his foreign convictions and despite his ''
persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...
'' status in Thailand, after officials used a special direction to waive "good character" requirements. Warwick Tuck, head of Immigration New Zealand, said that Dotcom had been granted residency as an "investor plus", or someone who invested $10 million in New Zealand.Megaupload accused Kim Schmitz in court, helicopter part of bail debate
TV3 News 23 January 2012
Despite granting him residency, Immigration New Zealand expressed concern that their decision might attract criticism that they had allowed Dotcom to buy his way into the country and attempted to keep it secret. Dotcom's residency status subsequently became the subject of intense media speculation when it came to light that Auckland mayor
John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to: Politics and law *Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament * John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania * John Gray Banks (18 ...
had become involved and that New Zealand's intelligence services had spied on him—an act made illegal by Dotcom's possession of residency in New Zealand. Immigration New Zealand officers judged Dotcom's convictions in Hong Kong to be too minor to consider deporting him. On his residency application of 3 June 2010, Dotcom erroneously denied having been convicted of dangerous driving; he had pled guilty to dangerous driving north of Auckland in September 2009. The media speculated at the time that this could provide grounds for deportation.


Involvement with Auckland mayor John Banks

John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to: Politics and law *Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament * John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania * John Gray Banks (18 ...
met Dotcom when he was
Mayor of Auckland City The Mayor of Auckland City was the directly elected head of the Auckland City Council, the municipal government of Auckland City, New Zealand. The office existed from 1871 to 2010, when the Auckland City Council and mayoralty was abolished and ...
. He asked Dotcom for help putting on a fireworks display in the city's harbour. Banks later attended a New Year's Eve party thrown by Dotcom at the city centre apartment of now bankrupt property developer David Henderson. He said it provided a great view of the fireworks display detonated over the
Waitematā Harbour Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...
. Banks said he had advised Dotcom on how to obtain permission from the
Overseas Investment Office The Overseas Investment Office is the New Zealand government agency responsible for regulating foreign direct investment into New Zealand. The Office is responsible for high value investments (2006: NZD $100m+), investments in sensitive land and ...
to buy the Coatesville mansion.Flamboyant former hacker to settle in NZ
''The New Zealand Herald'', 12 June 2011
On 28 April 2012, Dotcom revealed he had donated $50,000 to John Banks' mayoralty campaign in 2010 and that Banks had asked him to split the donation in two, allowing the Banks campaign to claim them as anonymous by falling within the anonymous limit of $25,000. In 2014, Banks was found guilty of filing a false electoral return, with evidence from Dotcom playing a major part in the case. This conviction was subsequently overturned on appeal following the discovery of new evidence, and a planned retrial was later cancelled and a verdict of acquittal entered. Among Dotcom's revelations was a phone call from Banks, thanking him for the contribution. Dotcom subsequently recorded a song titled ''Amnesia'', which mocks John Banks and the controversy of Dotcom's donation to him. A poll in October 2012 found the New Zealand public had a more favourable view of Kim Dotcom than of Banks.


Megaupload arrest and extradition proceedings

In February 2003, Dotcom set up Data Protect Limited, but changed the name to Megaupload in 2005. He was the
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
. Megaupload was an online
file hosting A file-hosting service, cloud-storage service, online file-storage provider, or cyberlocker is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. It allows users to upload files that could be accessed over the internet afte ...
and
sharing Sharing is the joint use of a resource or space. It is also the process of dividing and distributing. In its narrow sense, it refers to joint or alternating use of inherently finite goods, such as a common pasture or a shared residence. Still ...
service in which users could share links to files for viewing or editing, much of it pirated. Eventually it had over 150 employees, US$175 million revenues, and 50 million daily visitors. At its peak Megaupload was estimated to be the 13th most popular site on the Internet and responsible for 4% of all Internet traffic. On 5 January 2012,
indictments An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of ...
were filed in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
in the United States against Dotcom and other company executives with crimes including racketeering, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering. Two weeks later (20 January), Kim Dotcom, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk were arrested in
Coatesville, New Zealand Coatesville is an affluent, rural community situated approximately 30 km north-west of Auckland, New Zealand. Albany lies to the east, Paremoremo to the south, Riverhead to the south-west, and Dairy Flat to the north. The area was called ...
, by New Zealand Police, in an armed raid on Dotcom's house involving 76 officers and two helicopters. Seized assets included eighteen luxury cars, large TVs, works of art and US$175 million in cash. Dotcom's bank accounts were frozen denying him access to 64 bank accounts world-wide, including BNZ and Kiwibank accounts in New Zealand, government bonds and money from numerous PayPal accounts. Dotcom was remanded to Mt Eden Prison and alleged poor treatment by the authorities.Dotcom: I will beat charges
''The New Zealand Herald'', 1 March 2012
On 22 February, North Shore District Court Judge Nevin Dawson overturned previous rulings and released Dotcom on bail, reasoning that Dotcom had neither the ability nor desire to flee the country.


High Court

On 28 June 2012,
High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...
Justice Helen Winkelmann found that the warrants used to seize Dotcom's property were illegal because they were too broad. The Crown later admitted that it was aware that it was using the wrong order while the raid was in progress and that Dotcom should have been given the chance to challenge the seizure. It also admitted to giving seized hard drives to the FBI, who made copies of them in New Zealand and then sent them back to the US. Justice Winkelmann ruled that the handing of hard drives seized by New Zealand police in the raid to the FBI, and the copying of data on them by the FBI, was illegal. As a result of those rulings, Justice
Judith Potter Dame Judith Marjorie Potter (born 23 August 1942) is a former High Court judge in New Zealand. Early life Potter was born in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert on 23 August 1942, the daughter of Winifred Marjorie Potter (née Hall) and Phili ...
allowed Dotcom to withdraw approximately NZ$6 million (US$4.8 million) on 28 August 2012 of his seized assets, and to sell nine of his cars. The amount released was to cover $2.6 million in existing legal bills, $1 million in future costs, and another $1 million in rent on his New Zealand mansion.


Court of Appeal

In May 2012, a district court judge ruled that the FBI should hand over all its evidence against Dotcom relating to the extradition bid. The Crown appealed, but the ruling was upheld by the High Court. The Crown appealed again and in March 2013, the Court of Appeal quashed the previous court decisions. Crown lawyer John Pike, on behalf of the US Government, argued that the district court had no power to make disclosure decisions in an extradition case and that "disclosure was extensive and could involve billions of emails". The Court of Appeal agreed stating that extradition hearings were not trials and the full protections and procedures for criminal trials did not apply. Dotcom's lawyer, Paul Davison, QC, appealed to the Supreme Court. In May 2013, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, so it will make the final decision on whether Dotcom should receive all the FBI investigation files before the extradition hearing. A series of subsequent court decisions delayed every attempt to hold a hearing focused on extradition. In March 2013, Dotcom won a Court of Appeal ruling allowing him to sue the GCSB, rejecting the attorney-general's appeal against a ruling in December 2012. A month later, Dotcom appeared in court again, seeking compensation from police over the raid on his house, which earlier had been deemed illegal.


Confidential settlement with police

In November 2017, Dotcom and his former wife Mona accepted a confidential settlement from the police over the raid. The settlement came after a damages claim was filed with the High Court over the "unreasonable" use of force when the anti-terrorism Special Tactics Group raided his mansion in January 2012. Settlements have already been reached between police and Bram van der Kolk and Mathias Ortmann, who were also arrested. The ''
New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'' reported that their settlements were six-figure sums and "it is likely Dotcom would seek more as the main target in the raid". Commenting on the settlement, Dotcom said: "We were shocked at the uncharacteristic handling of my arrest for a non-violent Internet copyright infringement charge brought by the United States, which is not even a crime in New Zealand".


Supreme Court

In February 2014, the
New Zealand Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather ...
deemed the raids on Kim Dotcom to be legal but not the FBI's taking of information. Dotcom appealed this decision to the Supreme Court. In December four of the five judges agreed with the Court of Appeal that the raid was legal and ordered Dotcom to pay $35,000 costs. Chief Justice
Sian Elias Dame Sian Seerpoohi Elias (born 13 March 1949) is a New Zealand former Government official, who served as the 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand, and was therefore the most senior member of the country's judiciary. She was the presiding judge o ...
dissented, saying there had been a miscarriage of justice as the search warrant was too broad. A month before the Supreme Court decision, Dotcom's legal team quit after he had spent $10 million on his defence, financed the Internet Party, then run out of money. When the US tried to have his bail revoked, a new lawyer, Ron Mansfield, helped keep him out of prison. In December 2014, events took another turn when the High Court in Hong Kong ruled that the United States "did not have a clear path to serve a legal summons on Dotcom's filesharing company" and he could take a case to get back $60 million seized by authorities there. In making this decision, Judge Tallentire said, "No one can say when that process of extradition will be completed given the appeal paths open to the various accused. Indeed, no one can say if it will ever be completed".


Political fallout

After his arrest by the New Zealand police in January 2012, Dotcom had an ongoing dispute with Prime Minister
John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
about when Key had first become aware of Dotcom. Dotcom argued that Key had been involved in a plan to allow him into New Zealand so that he could then be extradited to the US to face copyright charges. Key had consistently said he had never heard of Dotcom until the day before the New Zealand police raid on his mansion in Coatesville.


Apology for illegal spying on Dotcom

On 24 September 2012, Key revealed that, at the request of the police, the
New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...
(GCSB) had spied on Dotcom to help police to locate him and monitor his communications in the weeks prior to the raid on his house. The GCSB are not allowed to spy on New Zealand citizens or permanent residents; Dotcom, though not a citizen, had been granted permanent residency. Three days later, Key apologized for the illegal spying.


Application for damages

In December 2012, Chief High Court judge Helen Winkelmann ordered the GCSB to "confirm all entities" to which it gave information. This also allowed Dotcom to sue the Crown for damages. The Crown appealed Justice Winkelmann's decision, but in March 2013, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision. Dotcom was unable to access the information, but Stuart Grieve QC, who was appointed as a Special Advocate, was given access. Dotcom argued in the Court of Appeal that there had been judicial miscarriage, but the court ruled in favour of the GCSB. Dotcom next sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court but in February 2020, it rejected his appeal and ordered him to pay the GCSB NZ$2,500.


Media reaction

The mistakes by authorities attracted widespread media coverage and Key's handling of the affair was criticised by opposition parties in Parliament. Political commentator Bryce Edwards criticised the GCSB's involvement and described the prosecution of Dotcom as "the stuff of farce". ''
The Sunday Star-Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...
'' commentator Richard Boock compared the Dotcom saga to
Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continu ...
and suggested it might eventually 'bring down' John Key. The story made headlines overseas, including in the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''New York Times'', ''The Guardian'', and the ''Hollywood Reporter'' which specialises in legal and entertainment issues.


Internet Party

In September 2013, Dotcom revealed he aspired to enter New Zealand politics. On 27 March 2014, Dotcom founded the Internet Party. In May 2014, it was announced that the Internet Party would form a political alliance with the
Mana Party The Mana Movement, formerly known as the Mana Party, is a former political party in New Zealand. The party was led by Hone Harawira who formed it in April 2011 following his resignation from the Māori Party. Harawira won the by-election in T ...
, led by local activist and sitting Member of Parliament
Hone Harawira Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to parliament as the member for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 as the Māori Party candidate. In 2011, following ...
. The deal was brokered to serve the Mana Party financially, with the combined structure's political campaign in the 2014 general election being primarily funded by Dotcom. In contrast, the fledgling Internet Party was to benefit from the possibility of seats in parliament in the event that the combined structure were to achieve a greater percentage of the country's vote, helped along by the Mana Party's existing seat. Due to his citizenship status, Dotcom was ineligible to become a member of parliament, and
Laila Harré Laila Jane Harré (born 8 January 1966) is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. She was the first leader of the Internet Party, and stood for Parliament in the 2014 general election through the Helensville electorate. From 1996 to 200 ...
, a veteran of left-wing politics and trade unions, was chosen as leader of the Internet Party.


The Moment of Truth

On 16 September 2014, Dotcom held an event in the Auckland Town Hall five days before the election in which he promised to provide "absolute proof" that Prime Minister
John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
knew about him long before he was arrested. The event was billed as the "Moment of Truth" and included the release of what was claimed to be an email, dated 27 October 2010 from Kevin Tsujihara, the chief executive of Warner Bros. to a senior executive at the Motion Picture Association of America – the lobby group for the Hollywood studios. ''The New Zealand Herald'', which broke the story, contacted Warner Bros., who said the email was a fake. In the 2014 general election, the joint
Internet Party and Mana Movement The Internet Party and Mana Movement, also stylised as Internet Party and MANA Movement or simply Internet MANA, was a coalition of the Internet Party and the Mana Movement formed to contest the party vote in the 2014 New Zealand general elec ...
gained 1.42% of the nationwide party vote but failed to win any seats. Dotcom, who was not a candidate because he is not a New Zealand citizen, sank NZ$3.5 million into the Internet Party, the largest personal contribution to a political party on record in New Zealand, according to the national Electoral Commission. "I take full responsibility for this loss tonight", Dotcom told reporters as election results became clear, "because the brand—the brand Kim Dotcom—was poison for what we were trying to achieve". The Serious Fraud Office investigated the email and determined that it was a forgery. The media criticised Dotcom for "failing to deliver" at the Moment of Truth after saying for three years that he could prove John Key had lied in relation to his copyright case. After the election, in which the Internet Mana alliance failed to win a seat, public support for Dotcom seemed to dissipate. Dotcom said in January 2015 he had become such "a pariah" in New Zealand that he might as well leave the country.


2017 general election

The party remained leaderless until 8 February 2017, when Suzie Dawson was appointed as its new leader for the 2017 general election. The Mana connection was dropped and the party contended as the single entity the Internet Party. The Internet Party ran 8 party list candidates. The party won only 499 votes (0.0%) and failed to win any seats in the
New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes laws, provides ministers to form Cabinet, and supervises the work of government. It is also responsible for adopting the state's budgets and ap ...
. The Internet Party was deregistered on 12 June 2018 because its membership had dropped below the 500 required for registration.


Extradition


District court

After three years' legal wrangling, involving two supreme court cases and 10 separate delays in the proceedings,
extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
proceedings finally got underway in an Auckland court on 21 September 2015. The wrangling continued at the hearing with Dotcom and his colleagues saying that they were unable to present a proper defence because the US had threatened to seize any funds they try to spend on international experts in Internet copyright issues. Dotcom's American lawyer,
Ira Rothken Ira P. Rothken is an American high technology attorney and computer scientist who has handled numerous cases of first impression involving the internet and new technologies. Education and Early Work Rothken is a graduate of Brandeis University ...
, said they would need about US$500,000 to get evidence from the appropriate experts. Harvard Law professor
Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...
, an international expert in copyright and fair use, provided his written opinion for free. He said there were no legal grounds to extradite Dotcom and the allegations and evidence made public by the US Department of Justice "do not meet the requirements necessary to support a prima facie case that would be recognised by United States federal law". Once the hearing finally got under way, Crown prosecutor Christine Gordon, on behalf of the US Government, called it a "simple scheme of fraud". Defence Lawyer Ron Mansfield's 300-page submission began with the argument that the case should be thrown out because the United States Supreme Court ruled in a parallel case in 1982 that copyright infringement was a civil matter and could not be prosecuted as criminal fraud. The Crown also made numerous references to intercepted
Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, debi ...
conversations between Dotcom and his co-defendants. Christine Gordon said one message written by Dotcom, when translated from German, read: "At some point a judge will be convinced about how evil we are and then we are in trouble." Mr Mansfield said this sentence was used repeatedly by Ms Gordon during her submission "with the knowledge that it would make international media headlines". Mansfield had the passage translated by three independent academics who said it had a very different meaning and should read: "At some stage a judge will be talked into how bad we allegedly are and then it will be a mess." On 23 December 2015, North Shore District Court Judge Nevin Dawson announced that Dotcom and the three other Megaupload co-founders were eligible for extradition. He said the US had a "large body of evidence" which supported a prima facie case. An immediate appeal was lodged by Dotcom's lawyer.Dotcom case 'destined for Supreme Court'
Radio NZ, 24 December 2015


High Court

In February 2017, the
New Zealand High Court The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...
upheld the earlier decision of the district court that Dotcom and his three co-accused could be extradited to the United States. However, Justice Murray Gilbert accepted the argument made by Dotcom's legal team that he and his former Megaupload colleagues cannot be extradited because of copyright infringement. The judge said he made this decision because: "online communication of copyright protected works to the public is not a criminal offence in New Zealand". However, Justice Gilbert said there were "general criminal law fraud provisions" in New Zealand law which covered the actions of the accused and they could be extradited on that basis. Dotcom saw this decision as a major victory saying: "The major part of this litigation has been won by this judgement - that copyright is not extraditable." The ruling opened the door to further appeals because the warrant which was served on him when he was arrested on 20 January 2012, stated he was being charged specifically with "copyright" offences. Both sides are expected to challenge aspects of the ruling before the New Zealand Court of Appeal and eventually the Supreme Court.


Court of Appeal

On 5 July 2018, the
New Zealand Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather ...
upheld the High Court's decision that Dotcom and the three co-accused could be extradited to the United States. In particular, the Court, disagreeing with Justice Gilbert, found that, even during the time of Megaupload's operations, it is a criminal offence in New Zealand to possess digital copyrighted works with an intention to disseminate them. Accordingly, Dotcom and his co-accused could be extradited on the basis of copyright infringement to stand trial in the United States. Dotcom's lawyer said that he would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. In June 2019, Dotcom began "a final appeal to halt his extradition from New Zealand to the US".


Supreme Court

On 4 November 2020, the
Supreme Court of New Zealand The Supreme Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Mana Nui, lit=Court of Great Mana) is the highest court and the court of last resort of New Zealand. It formally came into being on 1 January 2004 and sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It re ...
ruled that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States to face 12 criminal copyright-related charges. However, the Supreme Court also ruled that he and three other co-defendants could challenge the decision through a judicial review. In addition, the Supreme Court ruled that the High Court and Court of Appeal had been wrong not to consider their application for a judicial review of the original district court decision in 2015 that had first ruled in favour of extradition. Dotcom's lawyer Ron Mansfield described the judgment as a "mixed bag", stating that the Supreme Court had accepted there were "serious procedural issues" while warning that the Court's rejection of Megaupload's "safe harbour" defence would have "an immediate and chilling impact" on the Internet. , Dotcom continued fighting his extradition, with no end to the legal battle in sight.


On US involvement in his arrest

Dotcom claimed to be a legitimate businessman who has been persecuted by the United States government and industry trade groups such as the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
and
Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...
(MPAA). He blames former US President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
for colluding with Hollywood to orchestrate his arrest and has spoken out against his negative portrayal in the media. In regard to the illegal spying conducted by GCSB, Dotcom said they were not spying to find out where he was. In May 2013, Dotcom released a 39-page
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
alleging that the US government persecuted him at the behest of Hollywood, in exchange for support for Obama. Speculation about Hollywood's role in Dotcom's arrest grew when, in September 2012, Key made a four-day visit to meet top studio executives.Key: LA visit about jobs
''The New Zealand Herald'', 2 October 2012
Key said the trip was intended to promote New Zealand as a good country to produce films, but he was planning to meet with the MPAA, which had described Dotcom as "a career criminal". In November 2013, ''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspape ...
'' journalist David Fisher published ''The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom: Spies, Lies and the War for the Internet''.


Cryptocurrency

In November 2019, Kim Dotcom was going to launch his own cryptocurrency, but due to regulatory uncertainty, the offer was cancelled.


Other activities

Following the
11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
in the United States, Dotcom launched a group called Young Intelligent Hackers Against Terrorism (YIHAT). He said that he had hacked Sudanese bank accounts belonging to Osama Bin Laden and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Osama's capture on his now-defunct kimble.org site. Dotcom participated in a mock funeral procession for public broadcaster
TVNZ 7 TVNZ 7 was a commercial-free New Zealand 24-hour news and information channel on Freeview digital television platform and on Sky Television from 1 July 2009. It was produced by Television New Zealand, which received Government funding to launc ...
in downtown Auckland, on the day of its final broadcast. He had warmed to one of its more notable shows, ''Media7'', for its championing of Internet freedom and had been interviewed on the show at least once. In February 2012,
Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling pe ...
released Lord of The Rings Medley, a music video funded by Dotcom. In June 2012, Dotcom announced the upcoming launch of Megabox, a music streaming service. That October, he said that Megabox would launch on 19 January 2013, the first anniversary of Megaupload's shutdown. In August 2012, Dotcom teased an upcoming album with the release of a song titled ''Party Amplifier''. Dotcom was already in the process of recording the album with friend and producer,
Printz Board Priese Prince Lamont "Printz" Board (born September 11, 1982) is an American record producer, songwriter, and singer best known for his work with Black Eyed Peas and being a member of the production group Bucky Johnson. In addition, Board has ...
(who wrote ''Yes We Can'' for Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign), when he was arrested. Printz and Dotcom recorded more than 20 songs at
Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician who is known for being a member of Crowded House, Split Enz (which he co-fronted with brother Tim), and Fleetwood Mac. Finn rose to prominence in the late ...
's
Roundhead Studios Roundhead Studios is an Auckland-based sound recording studio owned by singer-songwriter Neil Finn. It was officially opened in June 2007, however by the time of its opening, several international artists had already used it whilst the studio was ...
in Newton, Auckland – one of which is called ''Mr President'' – an electronica
protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...
against Barack Obama.Dotcom's pop protest gets its first airing
''The New Zealand Herald'', 21 July 2012
On 2 November, Dotcom announced a new file storage service, similar to Megaupload, using the domain name me.ga. It was to be launched 19 January 2013, but the African state of
Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
, which controls the .ga domain, cancelled the me.ga name on 6 November 2012. The site has since registered the names mega.co.nz and mega.net.nz. The new file hosting service offers file encryption to enhance user privacy and security. As a result of this encryption, Dotcom and mega.co.nz will not know of the content of the uploaded data, allowing for the claim of
plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to denial, deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by members of their organizational hierarchy. Th ...
to be made should new charges arise. In January 2013, Dotcom offered a $13,500 reward to anyone able to defeat the site's security system. Dotcom has been involved in the local community in Auckland. In December 2012, he announced that he would be playing the part of Santa Claus in the play ''MegaChristmas'', run by Auckland's Basement Theatre. In a local ceremony on the first of that month, he turned on the Franklin Road Christmas lights and delivered a speech before the display. On 4 September 2013, Kim Dotcom stepped down as director of Mega and announced he was working on a music streaming service called Baboom. Dotcom says it will be more advanced than Megabox. On 10 September 2013, Dotcom announced that he would play 100 people in ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' at New Zealand's first Digital Entertainment Expo. On 25 December 2014, Dotcom helped stop the Christmas
DDoS In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conn ...
attacks on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network by giving
Lizard Squad Lizard Squad was a black hat hacking group, mainly known for their claims of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks primarily to disrupt gaming-related services. On September 3, 2014, Lizard Squad seemingly announced that it had disbande ...
3,000 $99 one year
MEGA Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...
accounts which would then be converted to lifetime accounts worth approximately $300,000. On 22 May 2017, Dotcom posted a statement on his website saying that he had information relevant to the investigation into the July 2016 murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. Dotcom said that he had proof that Rich was the source of the
2016 Democratic National Committee email leak The 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak is a collection of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails stolen by one or more hackers operating under the pseudonym " Guccifer 2.0" who are alleged to be Russian intelligence agency hackers ...
and that he was willing to provide evidence if US
special counsel In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest ex ...
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
could guarantee his safe passage from New Zealand to the United States. Seth Rich's family issued a statement calling Dotcom's statements "ridiculous, manipulative, and non-credible." Also in 2017, the biographical documentary ''Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web'', directed by Annie Goldson, premiered at the
New Zealand International Film Festival New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
.


Discography


Albums


Singles

*"Megaupload" (2011) *"Mr President" (2012) *"Precious" (2012) *"Good Life" (2016)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dotcom, Kim 1974 births Living people Businesspeople from Kiel German software engineers Finnish software engineers German fraudsters German computer criminals 20th-century German criminals 21st-century German criminals German male criminals Finnish fraudsters 20th-century Finnish criminals 21st-century Finnish criminals Finnish male criminals Privacy activists People with acquired Finnish citizenship People deported from Thailand German expatriates in Hong Kong Finnish expatriates in Hong Kong German emigrants to New Zealand Finnish emigrants to New Zealand Finnish chief executives Businesspeople in computing Finnish people of German descent German people of Finnish descent