2 Attachment(s)
Kim Dotcom Expects New Raid & Bail Revocation After “Secret Orders” Issued in U.S.
To avoid spending decades in a U.S. prison, last summer Megaupload coders Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk received sentences of 2.5 years in New Zealand as part of a plea deal. Kim Dotcom says the men are already free after providing "false confessions" for use against him. After eight years, the criminal case against him in the U.S. showed action recently, with secret orders handed down by the court. Dotcom predicts a new raid and revocation of his bail.
During a telephone call with Kim Dotcom, following the unprecedented raids that dismantled his Megaupload file-hosting empire in 2012, the tech entrepreneur insisted that this was no ordinary case.
It wasn’t just a massively scaled-up version of piracy raids we’d reported on dozens of times before either.
This prosecution had high-level politics not just at its core, but running so pervasively throughout that every twisted fiber had become inseparable from the corrupt corridors of power, Dotcom said. From the political goals of Joe Biden and the Democrats, to the importance of Hollywood support in a post-SOPA reality, much was at stake.
Dotcom Fights Back, Embraces Politics
Over twelve years later, the politics of the ‘Megaupload conspiracy’ are very much alive and for that, Dotcom shoulders much of the credit. The actions of U.S. and New Zealand authorities may have determined that path initially but, since then, Dotcom has done everything his power to ensure that his legal defense remains a persistent, controversial, politically-sensitive irritant.
Dotcom’s former Megaupload colleagues, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, fought back for a decade. But while Dotcom dug a policy trench of combative non-negotiation, his former friends were always less abrasive. Last year they did what Dotcom vowed never to do; they seized the opportunity to compromise, take the punishment, but crucially put over ten years of anxiety and uncertainty behind them.
Dotcom notes that the pair were originally charged with crimes potentially worth 186 years in federal prison should they have been extradited to the U.S.. Instead, an agreement saw them plead guilty to different offenses under New Zealand law and last year they were sentenced to 30 and 31 months in prison.
“10 Months in a Wellness Retreat”
Little has been heard of Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk since they were sentenced around 11 months ago. In an update to his social media followers, Dotcom recently claimed the men are already free.
“I hear that my co-defendants in the Megaupload case have recently been released after 10 months in what US prisoners would consider a New Zealand Wellness Retreat. They were originally charged with 186 years by the US DOJ for the so called ‘Mega conspiracy’ and got off with a 99.5% discount in exchange for false confessions. Obviously they just wanted to move on with their lives after 10 years on bail,” Dotcom wrote.
“No doubt the US DOJ and NZ Police will have milked my former friends and partners for every bit of criminal fantasy that they could extract. Before the National Govt and their Justice Minister decide to extradite me they will need some new bad optics: Kim Dotcom bad man. The US DOJ is currently working on delivering that to the National Govt of New Zealand and I’m sure we will learn about fantastic new tales before the Minister makes his extradition decision.”
To The Bitter, Political End
That Dotcom says he intends to fight, for as long as it takes, and he’s “looking forward to it,” will have been anticipated. However, the extradition decision will be issued by the government, not by a court, leaving room for more political complications should Dotcom face extradition to the United States.
Dotcom says that on the legal front, an adverse decision will lead to a judicial review and up to five years fighting in court where the New Zealand government will have to explain the “maliciousness and unlawfulness” in his case.
“These are real proceedings with discovery. We intend to get deep into the machinations of what really happened and we are well prepared. No doubt the Attorney General will try to get this in front of selected Judges like they did before. There’s a trail of promotions and titles for those who ruled against us in the past. But it will only add more stains to the New Zealand judiciary if reasonable requests for discovery are declined and approval for unreasonable redactions and secrecy is granted,” Dotcom adds.
“One thing is sure. We will fight to the very end,” he continues. “If I am eventually extradited to the United States it will happen at a great cost to New Zealand. Something I’m sure the perpetrators who have subverted New Zealand law for the US Govt will care little about.”
Case in the United States “Forever Tainted”
Dotcom’s political framing of the case against him hasn’t changed in the past 12 years. He describes a Joe Biden-sanctioned plot executed by copyright lobbyist Neil McBride, who Biden promoted to the role of US DOJ prosecutor for the purpose of destroying Megaupload on behalf of Hollywood. However, a more recent complication in the case seems to be viewed as more useful.
In 2022, District Court Judge Liam O’Grady was replaced in the civil cases pending against Dotcom in the United States. Shortly after the same judge recused himself from the criminal case too.
Describing the judge as “handpicked by the DOJ” to order the “destruction of Megaupload ex parte (without a hearing),” it transpired that he was previously a lawyer for Disney and while presiding over the Megaupload case, an active Disney shareholder.
Dotcom claims that this finding, which he believes taints the whole case, will have had an impact on the yet-to-be-handed-down decision of the New Zealand Minister of Justice to extradite him or not.
Sudden Movement in U.S. Criminal Case
With Dotcom clearly concerned over what information may have been given to the authorities by his former colleagues in New Zealand, a recent unexpected development in the U.S. criminal case seems to be adding to the pressure.
Dotcom says that after eight years of inactivity, the Department of Justice recently filed new ex parte motions under seal, asking the U.S. court to issue orders in secret, without his legal team being able to respond. The docket shows that is indeed the case.
“The new National Govt in New Zealand is proudly mean spirited and aggressively sucking up to the US Govt and has likely coordinated with the US DOJ to get new US Court orders that enable them to attack me, again,” Dotcom says.
“It’s not coming as a surprise. This is what I told you would happen after National won the election in New Zealand recently. The new Attorney General, Judith Collins, is as ‘dirty politics’ as they get and many years ago she declared openly in Parliament “I hope that Kim Dotcom will soon be extradited.”
The fact that she’s now in a position of power over my case couldn’t be a bigger conflict of interest after that statement. But that’s where we are.”
Dotcom Expects Another Raid, Bail Revocation
At this stage Dotcom appears to have no clear evidence on what’s coming next, but he has a few predictions.
“[W]hatever this new action by the US DOJ is it will be malicious, dirty and without substance. I have done nothing wrong,” he says.
“They want to silence me and take my freedom away. I’m expecting another raid, seizure of my devices and arrest with the goal to get my bail revoked and to stop me from being so successfully loud about the corruption that has ruined the United States and turned New Zealand into a nation that is subverting its on laws to please their US masters.
“It won’t be long until they take action. The US Judge will give the DOJ what they are asking for and the New Zealand Govt is ready to act for the evildoers who want to destroy me,” Dotcom concludes.
One of Dotcom’s “Closest Friends” Faces Extradition to the U.S.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, charging him with tax evasion causing an alleged loss to the IRS “of at least $48 million.” Following his arrest in Spain, the United States is working to extradite Ver to stand trial.
Following its collapse in 2023, Kim Dotcom’s BitCache venture is now in liquidation. Originally marketed as Megaupload 2.0, Ver was the second-largest shareholder in BitCache. While there’s nothing in the indictment to suggest any wrongdoing at BitCache, Dotcom describes Ver’s prosecution as similar to his own.
“This is a malicious attempt to vilify Roger and to punish him for exposing and opposing the crimes of US empire. Roger Ver is one of my closest friends and I vouch for his integrity and exemplary leadership,” Dotcom concludes.
