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Subscribe to RSSA New Zealand court granted bail on Thursday to two associates of the founder of online file-sharing website Megaupload, accused of being involved in a scheme that allegedly made more than $175 million from Internet piracy and illegal file sharing.
Dutchman Bram van der Kolk, 29, and Finn Batato, a 38-year-old German, who were arrested last Friday along with Megaupload's founder, Kim Dotcom, were freed on bail. A decision on another accused, Mathias Ortman, was put off until Friday pending further submissions on his bail application.
As Kim Dotcom appeared in a New Zealand court Monday morning, new details emerged about his extravagant lifestyle. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
"I am satisfied that the risk of flight here is minimal and such risk as remains can be met by the imposition of strict bail conditions including electronic monitoring," Judge David McNaughton said in a written judgement.
A lawyer for the men had argued their role in the company was different from that of Dotcom, and they did not have secret sources of funds or multiple identities.
The United States wants to extradite all four on charges of Internet piracy, copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering.
Dotcom, 38, was refused bail on Wednesday because the judge believed there was a significant risk he could try to flee New Zealand. He will reappear in court on Feb. 22. His lawyer is preparing to appeal that decision, maintaining that Dotcom does not have the means to leave the country.
The defendants have said they are innocent of the piracy and other charges, asserting the company simply offered online storage.
Nigel Marple / Reuters
An aerial view of the Dotcom Mansion, home of accused Kim Dotcom, who founded the Megaupload.com site and ran it from the $30 million mansion in Coatesville, Auckland.
An extradition application must be lodged within 45 days of an arrest, and the U.S. must show the alleged offences would be crimes in New Zealand punishable by at least 12 months in jail.
Legal experts have said the extradition process is likely to be long and complex.
A U.S. Justice Department official told The Associated Press a sixth suspect, Sven Echternach, has been located in Germany, but declined to say if he'd been arrested.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Calling this guy a pirate is like calling the owner of a locker and storage business a thief because one of his clients housed stolen merchandise in his facility.
What a joke.
Get your facts straight before you talk. This guy was PAYING people to upload pirated stuff and then making more money off of it. He IS a pirate. The biggest one there is (literally too..eats way too much...). Though, the fact that NBC talks about how they support all these BS laws that everyones fighting against..makes them almost as bad. ACTA, SOPA and PIPA are all overkill and won't solve anything except hinder people.
The FBI needs to crackdown on sites that contain fraudulent and phony users. Many are from 3rd world countries trying to scam Americans. I guess us little guys don't matter. The FBI's apparentl only interest is in protecting BIG companies. Ironically, those big companies have the means to protect themselves.
Also, I find this whole case interesting and quite timely as it happened when SOPA was being considered. If the BIG companies think this case illustrates a need for SOPA, think again. The fact is there are already enough laws on the books to do what SOPA's publicly stated intent was. It's just that w/o SOPA we won't be making criminals out of Internet based companies with good intentions.
So the streets are safe again (in New Zealand, at least) for us pure-of-heart. But wait! My inbox is still full of these un-invited email scammers that don't leave you alone. I'm still getting calls day and night (and I'm on the whoop-di-doo 'no call list') from people selling me every imagineable piece of crap there ever was.
But our FBI goes after this jackoff? He's worse than everything else out there? Really?
I feel so much better knowing the MPAA has a enforcement arm now.
This is a perfect example of the government not doing what the people want, but rather what the corporations want. How ridiculous!
How is it that Megaupload is in trouble for facilitating the sharing of music and movies, yet I can go on YouTube right now and hear every song ever, streaming? I hate to cry "conspiracy," but seriously- CONSPIRACY!
because he paid premium users to upload pirated stuff. Youtube doesnt do that...if something gets reported it is removed. megaupload deleted a lot of stuff too but in the back they were uploading more and "selling" it to premium users
How about hotmail and gmail. They are used to send copyrighted materials all the time with the files annexed. Aren't these sites breaking the law as well.... Where is our government protection there....
poor poor multi-billion dollar companies. My heart bleeds for them.
Throw the Kraut to the Sharks!