MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom and three executives from his company will be extradited to the United States to stand trial for crimes for facilitating illegal copyright infringement and other crimes, a New Zealand court ruled on Tuesday.
Dotcom, along with MEGA co-founder Mathias Ortmann, lead programmer Bram van der Kolk, and CMO Finn Batato will face racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement charges, among others. According to Wired, ruling judge Nevin Dawson said the U.S. has secured “overwhelming” evidence against Dotcom and would “fall well short of undermining the case.”
The decision comes close to four years after Dotcom was indicted in the U.S. and subsequently arrested in a massive police raid on his New Zealand mansion in January, 2012. Many of the charges revolve around the fact that Kim Dotcom’s MegaUpload file-sharing service allowed for more $500 million worth of copyrighted materials to change hands illegally.
Before he’s shipped off, Dotcom will have the opportunity to appeal the extradition. Ira Rothkin, part of Dotcom’s legal team, has already announced that he will do so.
At the time, Dotcom claimed the case was fabricated by the entertainment industry. Before the ruling, Dotcom tweeted the following message to his supporters: