Kim Dotcom has successfully fended off an American government bid to put in
him back in a New Zealand jail for allegedly violating his
bail.
"That was a good win today, but also another attempt by the US
government to get my liberty removed -- it's unbelievable," Dotcom
told Ars by phone late Sunday night.
It's been nearly three years since New Zealand authorities
raided Kim Dotcom's mansion, complete with two helicopters, as part of the American-led
global shutdown of his Hong Kong-based file sharing company,
Megaupload. Dotcom still faces American criminal charges of
copyright infringement, online piracy, and money laundering
charges, a civil case brought in April 2014 by the Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA), and more recently, a July 2014 civil
forfeiture case. Dotcom and his lawyers have relentlessly fought
back in multiple jurisdictions.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Ars'
request for comment.
Auckland District Court Judge Nevin Dawson restored the prior
conditions of Dotcom's "free on bail" status, which requires him to
check in with local police twice per week. But the judge also
imposed new restrictions on Dotcom's movements: he cannot travel by
air or boat charter, only by commercial or public transit.
Last week, New Zealand authorities, working on behalf of
American prosecutors pushing Dotcom's criminal copyright case,
claimed that the Megaupload founder "has breached bail conditions
by having indirect contact with one of his accused; that he is a
flight risk because he has the money to skip the country; and that
he has been dishonest about his finances by trying to sell a
NZ$500,000 (£250,000) Rolls Royce in London."
According to Radio New Zealand, Judge Dawson ruled from the bench on Monday
(Sunday in the United States) that "the court did not accept Mr.
Dotcom had hidden money and it would be inappropriate to revoke
bail."
Ira Rothken, Dotcom's
California-based attorney, told Ars via text message that he was
"pleased" with the result.
"This is what happens when prosecutors just want to win rather
than do justice," he wrote. "We expect a similar result at the
extradition hearing when the Court learns that the prosecutors made
up the law of criminal secondary copyright infringement."
Dotcom told Ars that he has been perfect for over two years in
meeting his bail conditions by reporting to a local police office
twice per week, about a 10 minute drive away.
"I have not missed one date -- I'm not even driving my own cars
to make sure I'm not speeding," he said. "I've been exemplary for
fulfilling my bail conditions. [The officers at that station] are
all my friends over there. I know them all by name. They pull out a
report card. I sign with my signature and i wish them a good week
and then I drive back home. It takes five minutes and that's
it."
The never-ending story
Dotcom has had some intermediate victories in the last 2.5
years. Since 2012, a New Zealand judge had ruled that the initial
warrants to search his home were illegal, which was then overturned in February 2014 on appeal -- that issue is now
pending before the New Zealand Supreme Court.
New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB),
analogous to the National Security Agency in the United States, was
also found to have spied on Dotcom (a German national with
permanent residency status in New Zealand) before the January 2012 raid on his mansion.
As we reported in 2012, because Dotcom had obtained permanent
resident status, he did not qualify as a foreigner under version of
the GCSB law at the time and therefore should not have been
subjected to GCSB surveillance. But the agency evidently
misunderstood the law or failed to verify Dotcom's immigration
status.
US authorities attempted to seize Dotcom's assets under civil
forfeiture back in July 2014 -- Dotcom's lawyers attempted to have
that case (which is separate from the criminal case) stayed until the criminal case is resolved. The
judge in the civil forfeiture case has yet to rule on the motion to
stay the case. Rothken argues that because Dotcom has never been to
the US, he can't possibly be a fugitive.
The extensive list of seized assets includes millions of dollars in
various seized bank accounts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, multiple
cars, four jet skis, the Coatesville mansion, several cars, two
180-inch TVs, three 82-inch TVs, a $10,000 (£6,370) watch, and a
photograph by Olaf Mueller worth over $100,000 (£63,670).
Since then, Dotcom has been vociferously fighting being sent to
the United States -- his oft-delayed extradition hearing has been
postponed yet again, until June 2015.
In November 2014, the case against Dotcom and his co-defendants
heated up as United States federal prosecutors asked a court to
transfer ownership of his seized assets (which remain in New
Zealand government custody) to the United States government on "doctrine of
fugitive disentitlement." If the court agrees, and Dotcom and
the others are declared fugitives, then they can have no claim on
the assets that have already been seized.
American authorities want the US federal court in Virginia to
move quickly. As they recently told the court in a filing recently:
In addition, a delay in this case could jeopardise forfeiture of
the assets if foreign governments proceed to release the currently
restrained assets despite the United States' requests to continue
restraint. For assets located in New Zealand, at least, the
restraint sought based upon the order of this Court cannot, by
statute, be extended beyond April 18, 2015. The initial hearing for
the New Zealand defendants' extradition eligibility is now
scheduled for June 2, 2015, which is long after those restraints
will have been lifted.
Dotcom told Ars that about 18 months ago he was offered an
"unofficial" plea deal through the solicitor general of New Zealand.
"The suggestion was made that this could all go away if i was
willing to accept a New Zealand-based copyright charge," he added.
"That if I admit some liability, that was the proposal -- at that
time we were winning in court, the unlawful search, and found out
that the government was spying on me illegally and I didn't feel
that I wanted to accept any liability because I haven't done
anything criminal and I told them to go away. I said I'm not
interested."
"They know they will lose"
In an hour-long phone call with Ars, Dotcom claimed that
American authorities were trying to essentially bleed him dry
financially so that he could not mount a proper legal defense, and
he again denied criminal wrongdoing.
"The US has been gaming the system from Day 1, trying to make
sure that I'm running out of steam and out of funds, and they're
working with the [Recording Industry Association of America] and
the MPAA," he said.
He said that his offer to come to the US to defend himself if
his seized assets were unfrozen just so he could pay legal fees
still stands.
Don't
miss
"The lawyers of the MPAA have taken control of [my Mega
shares]," he said, referring to the new cloud storage company he
founded in the wake of the shattering of Megaupload. Dotcom has
reportedly made $40 million through selling shares of two companies
that he founded: Mega and Baboom, a music site. (Dotcom cut ties with Baboom in October 2014.)
He recently transferred remaining shares to a trust controlled
by his estranged wife and five children as a way to shield them
from being frozen or seized by the MPAA. But that had a secondary
effect, which made it much harder for him to sell those shares,
which provided a necessary source of income to pay his New Zealand
legal team.
"That has led to my New Zealand legal team resigning [in
November 2014]," he added. "They didn't see a quick route for that
to be returned -- the moment that happened that was when the US
moved in for the kill [and asked the court restore my bail
conditions]. They are not interested in a fair extradition, or the
merits of the case, because they know they will lose. Copyright is
not extraditable under New Zealand law. they can only extradite
under racketeering. They have nothing of these communications [to
show] that there was any conspiracy to commit copyright
infringement and they allege that Megaupload was used only for the
purpose for copyright infringement. They want to run me out of
money."
Dotcom said that already he has paid "over $10 million
(£637,000) in legal fees around the world, with the majority of
that in New Zealand." His chief global counsel, Ira Rothken, who is based in
California and flies to New Zealand every six weeks, has yet to be
paid.
"There are some lawyers that are owed large sums of money and
the only way was I able to pay was to share Mega shares to
interested buyers and using what the trust gained with that and now
that they have been restrained so that route is not available
anymore," Dotcom continued.
"Now [the MPAA is] forcing me to go back to the High Court in
New Zealand and to the courts in Hong Kong and let them know that
the legitimate new assets that I have created are now restrained
and therefore I have to ask the courts to release funds from the
assets that were seized in 2012 and that's what going to happen in
the next few weeks. They have basically taken any chance from me to
have any liquidity to have the Mega and Baboom shares. That's their
strategy. They wanted to make sure that I don't have liquidity and
that I don't have lawyers."
Still, in the coming weeks, Dotcom and his Hong Kong-based legal
team expect a judicial ruling to determine whether the shuttering
of Megaupload in Hong Kong was improper. If so, then Dotcom could
sue local authorities for millions in damages.
This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.
Source Article from http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-12/1/kim-dotcom-did-not-violate-bail http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/k_n/Kim-Dotcom.jpg
Kim Dotcom dodges jail after judge finds he did not violate bail
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