Enlarge (credit: Sam Churchill)
The Kim Dotcom-Megaupload saga seems like it will never end. Five years have passed since the flamboyant Dotcom’s indictment and arrest in New Zealand on US criminal copyright infringement charges. He’s wanted in the US in connection to the Megaupload file-sharing service he controlled before the US shuttered it in 2012.
Dotcom, while on bail, continues fighting his extradition from New Zealand to the US as part of a prolonged legal battle that could take another year or more. All the while, the US government has seized millions of dollars in Dotcom bank accounts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, as well as multiple cars, four jet skis, Dotcom’s mansion, several luxury cars, two 108-inch TVs, three 82-inch TVs, a $ 10,000 watch, and a photograph by Olaf Mueller worth more than $ 100,000. The Justice Department wants to keep all of it, too, according to a Friday filing (PDF) with the US Supreme Court.
Dotcom has challenged (PDF) the asset forfeiture to the US Supreme Court. He says the US government is abusing the so-called Fugitive Disentitlement Doctrine that essentially forbids defendants from using the court system to their advantage while they’re a fugitive.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
