The court in Auckland New Zealand ruled this week that Kim Dotcom is eligible to be extradited to the United States to face multiple charges.
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However, in his ruling, Judge Dawson wrote that: “The overwhelming preponderance of evidence… establishes a prima facie case to answer for all respondents on each of the counts”.
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The decision by the Auckland court comes three months after legal proceedings on the matter began and nearly four years after police in the country raided his mansion in a dramatic operation backed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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As much previously reported, Dotcom et al’s extradition hearing was postponed multiple times because of an assortment of legal technicalities, but finally got underway in September.
As part of the court ruling, three other men who had worked with Dotcom are also facing similar extradition charges.
Dotcom rose to fame originally following his founding of the file-sharing website Megaupload 10 years ago and has since led to Dotcom founding a whole new range of web services, including last year’s attempt to create a “Skype killer” with his own service, MegaChat.
Dotcom argued he was not responsible for files illegally shared on the site – which has since been shut down – and that may people used it for legitimate purposes. Dotcom says he has by no means set foot within the US.
He is accused of facilitating piracy that cost film and music companies more than $500m (£322m). Megaupload was once one of the most popular file-sharing sites on the Internet, with millions of users. “We think the judge was wrong on the law”, Dotcom’s lawyer Ira Rothken told Reuters by telephone from California.
Dotcom, whose birth name is Kim Schmitz, made millions on the stock market before moving into tech.
Dotcom, in an interview earlier in the week, said he would sue the justice department of Hong Kong and seek over $2 billion in damages due to them taking his site down.
In 2010 it is estimated that Dotcom earned US$42m, and co-defendants Mathias Ortmann US$9m, Bram van der Kolk $US2m and Finn Batato US$400,000.
“If it is not then I will need to consider the court’s determination and receive advice from the Ministry of Justice on the relevant issues under the Extradition Act”, she said.
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All four will also remain free on bail until the appeal concludes.
