New Zealand is going to extradite Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom to the United States for trial over fraud with the file-sharing site Megaupload. The relevant permit was issued on Thursday, August 15, 2024, by the Minister of Justice of New Zealand Paul Goldsmith. This was reported by CNN.

“I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial. As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will not, therefore, be commenting further at this stage,” Goldsmith said.

Later, on his X account, Dotcom wrote that he had a plan and that he loved New Zealand and would not leave it.

Dotcom was first arrested in 2012 when the New Zealand police raided his Auckland estate and cut their way into a locked safe room where he was hiding. The tycoon was later released on bail.

Kim Dotcom and three other co-defendants were indicted by the US on a number of charges, including conspiracy to commit racketeering and commercial copyright infringement, fraud, and money laundering.

Among other things, the US authorities accuse the four men of profiting from Megaupload through copyright infringement. Kim Dotcom and the other defendants denied these allegations, saying that Megaupload was just a file-sharing site and that they should not be responsible for what files users downloaded.

The file-sharing site Megaupload was shut down in 2012 after being indicted by the US government. However, Kim Dotcom continued to work in the field and in January 2013 opened another similar site, Mega, which is still operating and encrypts all user content directly in the browser using the AES algorithm.

Among other things, Dotcom is also known for frequently spreading Russian and anti-Ukrainian propaganda on its social media pages.