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US fails to lock up Dotcom again

by on01 December 2014



Despite nearly bankrupting him

US authorities, hearing that Kim Dotcom had run out of cash and could not afford a lawyer, had a go at having him locked up.

US authorities rushed to court claiming that Dotcom had broken his bail and demanded he be locked up before his extradition hearing to face internet piracy charges in the United States. They claimed that he had broken his bail conditions by selling his car to try to pay for his legal cases and that he was suddenly a flight risk.

An Auckland court, which is used to hearing real cases of bail jumping, rejected the allegations, even if Dotcom was forced to defend himself. While Dotcom, a German national and New Zealand resident, was free to return to his sprawling mansion in Auckland, his bail conditions were tightened to prevent him from traveling by helicopter and require him to report to police twice a week.

"I have been probably the most compliant and exemplary (bail) candidate," Dotcom told reporters outside the court, while adding that he was surprised that his bail conditions had been tightened.

Dotcom is accused of massive copyright infringement related to the Megaupload file sharing site he founded in 2005. He faces an extradition hearing in mid-2015. Set up in 2005, Megaupload accounted for around 4 percent of total traffic on the internet in its heyday as users stored and shared files containing everything from wedding videos to Hollywood films.

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