Kim Dotcom Can’t Prevent NZ Govt. Sending Hard Drives & Passwords to FBI

Kim Dotcom's latest bid to prevent the New Zealand government from handing over his hard drives and passwords to the FBI has failed. In 2022, the High Court said the devices could be sent to the United States to assist in Dotcom's criminal prosecution there. Following Dotcom's inevitable appeal, the Court of Appeal has now dismissed the proceedings.

Defying even the broadest definition of ‘justice’ or even basic common sense, more than 12 years after his initial arrest, Kim Dotcom is still fighting the New Zealand government on every detail of his case.

Given that the booby prize for not doing so is an all-expenses-paid trip to the United States, few could blame him. But why this has been allowed to drag on for so long can only be answered by New Zealand’s government.

Whether Dotcom is eventually found innocent or guilty, justice needs to be seen to be done. There’s no denying Dotcom’s significant contribution to undermining the case against him but, as the defendant, it’s his job to find errors and blunders to exploit. And there has been no shortage of those and from the outside, the optics are not great.

Seized Hard Drives

During the 2012 operation to shut down Megaupload, around 135 devices were seized by law enforcement in New Zealand. Yet it was a full decade before the High Court ruled that devices belonging to Dotcom, seized at his home a decade earlier, could be sent to the United States. The reasons for that delay are complicated but of course, nothing is ever straightforward or fully settled in this case.

The decision by the High Court in 2022 was inevitably appealed by Dotcom but according to RNZ, not until September 2023.

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 – and their passwords – 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.

In 2020, a panel of judges at New Zealand’s 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’s decision; via a judicial review, no less.

Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk

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 pleaded guilty to a series of crimes on the understanding that any sentence would be served in New Zealand.

Just over a year ago, the pair were sentenced to serve 2.5 years behind bars, initially at the Mt Eden Corrections Facility (MECF) in the central Auckland suburb of Mt Eden.

Last month, just 11 months after the sentencing of his former colleagues, Kim Dotcom claimed they were already free after spending “10 months in what US prisoners would consider a New Zealand Wellness Retreat.”

“They were originally charged with 186 years by the US DOJ for the so called ‘Mega conspiracy’ and got off with a 99.5% discount in exchange for false confessions,” Dotcom continued. “Obviously they just wanted to move on with their lives after 10 years on bail.”

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.

According to NZHerald, New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has confirmed that the ban will run until June 15, 2028.

“This prohibition protects the New Zealand public by ensuring that individuals with dishonesty convictions cannot be company directors,” Vanessa Cook, acting head of MBIE’s criminal proceeds integrity and enforcement team, told the publication.

“As 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.”

What Now For Kim Dotcom?

After claiming to be “broke and destitute” in 2015, Dotcom now lives in a dream home in a dream location in New Zealand while New Zealand’s government continues to spend public money, at last count around $20 million, attempting to counter whatever Dotcom comes up with next.

Last year, then Minister of Justice Kiri Allan said that while a warrant to extradite Dotcom required her signature, it’s likely that Dotcom would seek a judicial review to buy more time in New Zealand.

“I have received detailed submissions from Mr Dotcom. In due course I will receive further advice on those matters before making any decision,” Allen told New Zealand Herald at the time.

“Unfortunately, I cannot say how long that will take.”

After just 12 years, it’s quite remarkable that this year-old comment remains relevant even today.

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