'I'm Not Leaving': Kim Dotcom Defiant in the Face of US Extradition Order

Bitcache founder Kim Dotcom, who faces a slew of charges over his controversial file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited to the United States after a more than decade-long tussle with American authorities. However, Dotcom claims he has a "plan" to avoid the maneuver.

New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, ending a 12-year legal battle to bring him to the U.S., Reuters reported Thursday, citing a representative for the Minister of Justice. 

“I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr. Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement seen by Reuters. He declined to comment further on the matter, according to the publication. 

The German-born Dotcom was arrested in New Zealand in 2012 for alleged criminal activities relating to his now-defunct file-sharing service, Megaupload.  The 50-year-old also founded blockchain-based micropayments company Bitcache, which was liquidated more than a year ago due to unpaid bills. 

U.S. authorities allege that Dotcom and his associates encouraged Megaupload users to share illegal copies of music, TV shows, and films, among other content, bringing in revenue of at least $175 million. The Justice Department shuttered Megaupload in January 2012, as authorities prepared to bring charges against the people who ran the website.

Dotcom faces two counts of criminal copyright infringement, in addition to one count each of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, according to an indictment from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

If convicted, Dotcom faces a maximum prison sentence of more than 50 years.

Dotcom on Thursday expressed doubts about the likelihood of his extradition to the U.S., however. In a pair of social media posts, he hinted that he would continue to fight mounting legal pressures to leave his adopted home of New Zealand, where he obtained residency in 2010.

“I love New Zealand. I’m not leaving,” the crypto entrepreneur said Thursday in a Twitter (aka X) post several hours after news broke of his impending extradition to the U.S.

“Oops. Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Dotcom wrote in an earlier post, referencing the extradition news. 

It isn’t immediately clear what Dotcom’s “plan” would entail. Dotcom did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment on the matter.

Edited by Andrew Hayward