Kim Dotcom Takes Fight with US Authorities over Seized Millions to Supreme Court

[CrAKeN]

 

Kim Dotcom has one last hope to get back seized assets

 

Kim Dotcom has reached out to the US Supreme Court in the hope that he will get back the millions of dollars in assets that were seized by the US government years ago. 

 

The situation goes back a few years, to 2012 when a raid on Megaupload and Kim Dotcom left the Internet mogul without millions of dollars in cash and property. The US government claims everything Dotcom owns was obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes. Thus, it has launched a civil action asking the court to forfeit bank accounts, cars, and other seized possessions of Dotcom. 

 

The Megaupload creator has been branded by the US authorities as a "fugitive" and managed to win that case. The verdict was appealed, but, once more, the court ruled against Dotcom and his team. 

 

A last try

As a last resort, Dotcom is taking the case to the US Supreme Court. A petition was filed asking for the judged of the Supreme Court to overturn the "fugitive disentitlement" ruling and the forfeiture of his assets. Basically, they claim that Dotcom and the other Megaupload defendants were wrongfully labeled as fugitives by the Department of Justice. 

 

"If left undisturbed, the Fourth Circuit's decision enables the Government to obtain civil forfeiture of every penny of a foreign citizen's foreign assets based on unproven allegations of the most novel, dubious United States crimes," the petition reads. "And the Government can do so without affording a foreign defendant any opportunity to challenge in court whether the foreign assets are traceable to criminal conduct, whether the Government’s allegations are sufficient to establish the charged crime, or even whether the charged ‘crime’ is a crime at all.”

 

In short, the decision of the lower courts creates a precedent where the US government can seize assets of people who have never been to the United States, with very little evidence. 

 

The Supreme Court has to decide whether to take on the case or not. If successful, Dotcom could get back assets and cash of up to $67 million. 

 

Source

[humble3d]

Sadly, the high court has a history of supporting civil forfeiture  and tax cases; or, in the words of one barrister:

"The court always comes down on the side of taxing authorities..."

 

Trump said it best: "everything is rigged..."