Kim Dotcom slammed New Zealand as an "obedient US colony" after the country's justice minister signed an extradition order on Thursday. The founder of the Megaupload file-sharing site has been fighting extradition to the US since 2012, Reuters reports. "I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial," Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said in a statement. "As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision."
In a post on X, Dotcom said the "obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload, unsolicited." Dotcom, who was born in Germany and has New Zealand residency, was named by the Justice Department in a 2012 indictment as the leader of the criminal enterprise behind one of the "largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States." If he is extradited to the US, he will face charges including racketeering conspiracy and conspiring to commit copyright infringement.
The Justice Department said Megaupload and related sites generated "more than $175 million in criminal proceeds" and caused "more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners." The New Zealand Herald reports that Dotcom is certain to appeal the extradition order, meaning the legal fight could drag on for years. "I love New Zealand. I'm not leaving," he said in a post on X on Friday. Two other former Megaupload execs arrested in New Zealand in 2012 were sentenced to around 2.5 years each last year under a deal that allowed them to avoid extradition to the US. (More Kim Dotcom stories.)
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