Swordsmyth
06-10-2019, 11:00 PM
The Supreme Court will today hear a final plea from Kim Dotcom and three others to reject a court ruling they must be extradited to the United States to face charges connected to the operation of the defunct Megaupload website.
The hearing comes more than seven years after they were arrested in New Zealand on a United States' indictment based on an FBI allegations of massive copyright abuse which cost movie and music producers US$500 million (NZ$750m).
Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato have all denied any wrongdoing.
They were arrested in January 2012 as part of a worldwide FBI operation of simultaneous raids that targeted bank accounts and data.
Of the three other accused worldwide, one has pleaded guilty in a deal by which he served a year in prison and offered testimony against his former Megaupload colleagues,
The website offered users the ability to upload and access movies, music and other files. It once claimed to produce 4 per cent of the world's internet traffic and won high-profile endorsements from stars such as including Sean "Diddy" Combs and Kim Kardashian.
It brought in huge amounts of cash through membership and advertising. Documents showed Dotcom earned $40m from it in 2010.
The Supreme Court hearing is the final appeal recourse to a decision from the North Shore District Court in 2015 that the United States have shown cause for the four men to be extradited.
If it does uphold the decision, it would then fall to Minister of Justice Andrew Little to endorse the extradition warrant with his signature. If it reaches that stage, it is expected the accused would seek a judicial review of the decision at High Court, and further appeals would likely follow.
More at: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12238778
The hearing comes more than seven years after they were arrested in New Zealand on a United States' indictment based on an FBI allegations of massive copyright abuse which cost movie and music producers US$500 million (NZ$750m).
Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato have all denied any wrongdoing.
They were arrested in January 2012 as part of a worldwide FBI operation of simultaneous raids that targeted bank accounts and data.
Of the three other accused worldwide, one has pleaded guilty in a deal by which he served a year in prison and offered testimony against his former Megaupload colleagues,
The website offered users the ability to upload and access movies, music and other files. It once claimed to produce 4 per cent of the world's internet traffic and won high-profile endorsements from stars such as including Sean "Diddy" Combs and Kim Kardashian.
It brought in huge amounts of cash through membership and advertising. Documents showed Dotcom earned $40m from it in 2010.
The Supreme Court hearing is the final appeal recourse to a decision from the North Shore District Court in 2015 that the United States have shown cause for the four men to be extradited.
If it does uphold the decision, it would then fall to Minister of Justice Andrew Little to endorse the extradition warrant with his signature. If it reaches that stage, it is expected the accused would seek a judicial review of the decision at High Court, and further appeals would likely follow.
More at: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12238778