Kim Dotcom to be extradited after 12-year dispute with the USA

Kim Dotcom, who faces charges in connection with the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited from New Zealand to the United States, New Zealand's justice minister said.

German-born Dotcom, who resides in New Zealand, has been fighting extradition to the United States since 2012 after the FBI ordered a raid on his Auckland mansion.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has signed an extradition warrant for Dotcom, a spokesman said on Thursday.

“I have carefully reviewed all of the information and have concluded that Mr. Dotcom should be extradited to the United States to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement.

“As usual, I have given Mr Dotcom a short period of reflection and advised him on my decision. I will therefore not comment further at this time.”

In a post on social media site X on Tuesday, Dotcom said: “The obedient US colony in the South Pacific has just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload,” apparently referring to the extradition order.

Reuters could not immediately reach Dotcom for a response, but after the announcement he posted on X: “I love New Zealand. I'm not leaving” and “Don't worry, I have a plan.”

According to U.S. authorities, Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives cost movie studios and record labels over $500 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material, which brought the site over $175 million in revenue.

The company's chief marketing officer, Finn Batato, and chief technical officer and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, both from Germany, as well as a third executive, Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, were arrested along with Dotcom in 2012.

Ortmann and van der Kolk entered into plea agreements that would see them sentenced to prison in New Zealand in 2023 but would allow them to avoid extradition.

Batato died in New Zealand in 2022.