Despite his lawyers’ best efforts, jovial entrepreneur and alleged copyright-infringement mastermind Kim Dotcom will face extradition to the United States.
The German-born New Zealand resident and three people who helped him create and run the file-storage site Megaupload will head to court over charges that the site facilitated mass copyright infringement. The four have also been charged with money laundering.
Dotcom vaguely alluded to the proceedings on Twitter Sunday.
Today we’ll find out if I get a fair extradition hearing or if the New Zealand judiciary will transform itself into a US owned dancing bear.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) September 13, 2015
As expected… Dancing bear.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) September 13, 2015
The legal drama surrounding Dotcom and Megaupload is a circus, beginning with a high-profile helicopter raid on Dotcom’s sprawling New Zealand mansion in 2012. Dotcom has since founded something of a sequel to his site, called Mega; had millions of dollars in assets seized by the U.S.; had those assets returned; dropped an album; and separated from his wife,
Dotcom and his colleagues’ extradition trial begins Sept. 21.
H/T NZME News | Illustration by Jason Reed