The decision by the High Court in 2022 was inevitably appealed by Dotcom but\u00a0according to RNZ<\/a>, not until September 2023.<\/p>\n This week, the Court of Appeal reportedly dismissed the proceedings, suggesting that Dotcom has failed in his latest bid to prevent the government from handing the hard drives \u2013 and their passwords \u2013 over to the FBI in the United States. Given the history of the last 12 years, no one should be surprised if something else gets in the way of that actually happening anytime soon.<\/p>\n In 2020, a panel of judges at New Zealand\u2019s Supreme Court ruled that Kim Dotcom can be extradited to the United States to face copyright infringement charges. The panel also said that due to Dotcom being wrongfully denied a judicial review in 2015, Dotcom could challenge the Supreme Court\u2019s decision; via a judicial review, no less.<\/p>\n In May 2022, former Megaupload executives Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk revealed that they had signed a deal to avoid extradition to the United States. One month later, the men\u00a0pleaded guilty<\/a>\u00a0to a series of crimes on the understanding that any sentence would be served in New Zealand.<\/p>\n Just over a year ago, the pair were sentenced to serve\u00a02.5 years behind bars<\/a>, initially at the Mt Eden Corrections Facility (MECF) in the central Auckland suburb of Mt Eden.<\/p>\n Last month, just 11 months after the sentencing of his former colleagues, Kim Dotcom\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0they were already free after spending \u201c10 months in what US prisoners would consider a New Zealand Wellness Retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey were originally charged with 186 years by the US DOJ for the so called \u2018Mega conspiracy\u2019 and got off with a 99.5% discount in exchange for false confessions,\u201d Dotcom continued. \u201cObviously they just wanted to move on with their lives after 10 years on bail.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving on after a decade of limbo was something Ortmann and van der Kolk had already been planning for. Since 2014 the pair had dedicated their business lives to the development of Mega, now one of the leading file-hosting companies on the internet. Due to their convictions, however, the pair have been banned from managing any companies in New Zealand for five years.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0NZHerald<\/a>, New Zealand\u2019s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has confirmed that the ban will run until June 15, 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cThis prohibition protects the New Zealand public by ensuring that individuals with dishonesty convictions cannot be company directors,\u201d Vanessa Cook, acting head of MBIE\u2019s criminal proceeds integrity and enforcement team, told the publication.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the former executives were part of global criminal enterprise that cost copyright holders billions of dollars, it was imperative for us to ensure they are prohibited from managing or being director of any company.\u201d<\/p>\n After claiming to be \u201cbroke and destitute<\/a>\u201d in 2015, Dotcom now lives in a dream home in a dream location in New Zealand while New Zealand\u2019s government continues to spend public money, at last count\u00a0around $20 million<\/a>, attempting to counter whatever Dotcom comes up with next.<\/p>\n Last year, then Minister of Justice Kiri Allan said that while a warrant to extradite Dotcom required her signature, it\u2019s likely that Dotcom would seek a judicial review to buy more time in New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cI have received detailed submissions from Mr Dotcom. In due course I will receive further advice on those matters before making any decision,\u201d Allen told New Zealand Herald at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, I cannot say how long that will take.\u201d<\/p>\n After just 12 years, it\u2019s quite remarkable that this year-old comment remains relevant even today.<\/p>\n Source: \u00a0Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk<\/h2>\n
What Now For Kim Dotcom?<\/h2>\n
![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
<\/a> TorrentFreak.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"