A Choose in New Zealand has ordered Kim Dotcom, the founding father of Megaupload and failed crypto funds processor Bitcache, to be extradited to the US 12 years after his arrest.
New Zealand justice minister Paul Goldsmith ordered the extradition on Thursday, saying “I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial.”
Regardless of this, Kim Dotcom claimed on X (previously Twitter) that he doesn’t intend to go away New Zealand.
I really like New Zealand. I’m not leaving
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 15, 2024
Dotcom, actual identify Kim Schmitz, was arrested on his birthday in 2012 for his function in one of many largest filing-sharing websites within the noughties, Megaupload.
He later based the crypto startup Bitcache which promised to be the “preferred payment option” by 2022. Nevertheless, it by no means formally launched and went into liquidation in 2023 attributable to unpaid authorized charges.
When asserting its liquidation, Schmitz mentioned Bitcache would turn out to be a brand new undertaking referred to as Fileshop that will be a “Bitcoin Cash killer app.”
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Schmitz has additionally launched an album, uploaded varied music movies, and carried out as a DJ. His web site additionally claims he’s nonetheless primary on the leaderboard for kills within the online game Name of Responsibility: Fashionable Warfare 3.
He faces prices of racketeering, cash laundering, copyright infringement on an industrial scale, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Protos has reached out to Schmitz to make clear what he plans to do subsequent.
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