Kim Dotcom Seeking A Similar Deal To His Colleagues

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has been fighting extradition to the US for more than a decade. His three teammates have already fended them off, albeit in different ways. Dotcom wants to keep fighting but doesn’t rule out a deal anymore. Born in Germany, he was arrested at his New Zealand estate in early 2011 and has since fought his way through all authorities and in every way imaginable to avoid being extradited to the US.

His comrades and co-defendants Finn Batato, Mattias Ortmann, and Bram van der Kolk managed to prevent this, Batato for health reasons, the other two thanks to a deal with New Zealand and American justice. On the one hand, Kim Dotcom is combative and still wants to act against this injustice, on the other, like Ortmann and van der Kolk, he leaves the back door open to answer to the New Zealand courts for the allegations against have been voiced to him.

Dotcom: “You’re Going to Blame Me”

Dotcom currently expects his former companions to “acknowledge responsibility” and testify against him (via TorrentFreak). The two’s deal could significantly complicate dotcom’s case, especially since they’ve previously denied that Megaupload was anything illegal. “My co-defendants do not believe they are criminals or members of an organized crime group, they have said that repeatedly and it is the truth,” Dotcom said on Twitter. In any case, according to the main defendant, there is no point in turning around now: “We have hours of recordings of conversations with you, which render any statement against me worthless. My co-defendants are aware of the recordings. I wonder if she notified the Justice Department. Probably not.”

New “portal”

At the same time, the 48-year-old does not rule out the possibility that his lawyers could follow Ortmann and van der Kolk’s example: “My legal team could try to hear my case in a New Zealand court, with a jury from New Zealand. .” It is of course questionable whether the judiciary of the island nation will go along with this, but he himself is not categorically against it, as the actions of his fellow combatants have also “opened a new portal” for him.